In July, the AI landscape witnessed a surge in high-value acquisitions, underscoring the global race to secure AI dominance—while India’s top IT firms appear reluctant to make bold moves despite sitting on over $20.6 billion in cash reserves. The most notable deals included a $2.4 billion acquisition involving OpenAI, Cognition, and Windsurf, and Capgemini’s $3.3 billion all-cash acquisition of WNS. According to Capgemini CEO Aiman Ezzat, the deal brings the group “scale and vertical sector expertise” with agentic AI-powered intelligent operations tailored for the U.S. market.
These aggressive investments by international players reflect growing conviction in the power of domain-specific AI and its scalable potential. However, Indian IT giants—despite their financial strength—are yet to match this momentum. Their cautious stance is raising concern among industry veterans and analysts who see this as a potentially costly hesitation.
HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar had warned earlier this year that “AI’s disruption in IT services is unlike previous technological shifts” and emphasized the need for companies to be “more proactive” in developing new business models around AI. His remarks capture the urgency many believe is lacking within India’s largest tech firms.
Meanwhile, global technology companies are accelerating their AI integration strategies. Capgemini’s move is just one among several others. ServiceNow recently acquired Moveworks for $2.5 billion and also picked up Logik.ai. Accenture is closing billion-dollar AI acquisitions, including Halfspace – an AI Company and Japan’s Yumemi Inc. Cognizant is also doubling down, transforming itself through strategic AI partnerships.
Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, partner at Catalincs and former Cognizant India MD, called this moment a “generational opportunity” that the Indian IT industry may be “sleeping through.” He highlighted that “over 75% of the sector’s $20 billion annual free cash flow is returned to shareholders instead of funding bold bets,” urging firms to rethink their investment priorities.
Without a decisive pivot toward acquiring AI talent and capabilities, Indian IT risks losing relevance in the next phase of digital transformation. Ramamoorthy cautions that without bold action, the industry could face “techolonisation”—becoming reliant on others for technology and innovation leadership.
