Wipro Looks At A Soft Start To FY26 Despite Strong Deal Wins Amid Tariff Uncertainty

Bengaluru-based IT major Wipro is expecting a soft start to FY26 amid the global uncertainty triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariff decisions, even as the deal pipeline remains strong with big deal wins, according to Srini Pallia, Chief Executive Officer at Wipro.

Wipro posted its fourth quarter results on Wednesday. While its revenue and margins remained largely flat, profits beat expectations. The company has guided for a degrowth of -3.5% to -1.5% for the first quarter of FY26.

“Some of the large deals that we have won, especially the big deal — the Phoenix deal—it’s going to take us a few more months before we start ramping up. The revenue tick will happen as per the contract. Once that happens, we will have a revenue momentum coming from that particular deal,” Pallia told NDTV Profit.

Uncertainty in the current macroeconomic situation will directly impact some industries, while others will face an indirect hit. Wipro is seeing its consumer, manufacturing, automotive and industrial businesses being directly impacted, leading clients to hold off on spending and focus on cost and cash control. The BFSI sector too is in a wait-and-watch mode before deploying discretionary spending, the CEO explained.

“Wipro is working with clients as they do scenario planning week after week based on how the situation is changing on the ground. The idea for us is to sense and respond to what they're looking for and help them through these uncertainties, and whatever guidance we have given, it's baked into those uncertainties for our clients,” Pallia said.

The IT firm’s margins in the fourth quarter were flat at 17.3%. Aparna Iyer, Chief Financial Officer at Wipro, said, “It will be a volatile and uncertain environment. Our endeavour would be to hold the margins in a narrow band. Given the weaker revenue environment, it is going to be an enormous task ahead, which we are all gearing up to. We have actually improved our profitability consistently over the last few quarters in the backdrop of a weak revenue environment. We are dipping into that muscle for us to hold these margins in a narrow band.”

The margin levers for the company are productivity gains, improved utilisation, focus on fixed spends and optimisation of overheads, she added.

Wipro, in the recent past, has pivoted to focus aggressively on its large accounts portfolio, the CEO noted, adding it was a strategic priority. Wipro has grown its top 5 and top 10 clients by being proactive and collating industry-specific AI-powered solutions, the CEO said. Along with this focus, it continues to monitor requirements of the rest of its clients, where cost optimisation provides an opportunity and forms a significant chunk of the deal pipeline.

“For the large accounts, we are waiting and watching. What’s important for us is to look at pipelines and deals across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific to see what those deals are and how we can advance them, which we’ll continue to do in the next 90 days,” Pallia said.

Wipro’s employee headcount at the end of FY25 stood at 233,346, an increase of 614 employees from the last quarter, with yearly additions remaining modest. Voluntary attrition was at 15%, marginally lower than 15.3% last quarter, on a trailing 12-month basis.

Saurabh Govil, Chief HR Officer, said, “There is an uncertain macro environment; we will see every quarter and act. We have made all our (hiring) commitments of the previous year with the campus hiring and variable pay; we hope attrition will take a downward trend.”

The company sees more room for improving utilisation, where it believes in the current environment, it can upskill employees and deploy them on the project. Amid the uncertain environment, the company has not yet decided on the hiring targets. It also remains undecided on a wage hike decision. Wage hike decisions will be made closer to the cycle in September, depending on the business environment, Govil said.