US cos may delay IT budgets, wait for clarity from Trump: Infy

Clients in the US could marginally delay their budgeting cycle for technology spends as they wait for President-elect Donald Trump to spell out his focus on policies like immigration and creating local jobs, Infosys COO Pravin Rao said.
"...Obviously, there will be some uncertainty in the mind of clients in terms of any kind of legislation which may make it a little bit more challenging for them to avail services of companies like ourselves. So that may probably play out for a period of time till they get much more clarity in terms of direction (as to) what is the focus for Trump in the coming year and so on," Rao said at a CLSA conference last week.

He further said normally clients work out their IT budgets around December-January, which may get "marginally shifted".
However, he played down the relevance of budget, saying the presence or absence of it has not prevented clients from making investments or deferring investment decisions.
"So probably, while people may be cautious with the budget and other thing and trying to wait out for policies coming out and the focus areas of Trump, the new President, my sense is if there is a need for them to invest, they will figure out a way to invest," he said.
Companies like TCS, Infosys and Wipro have been witnessing softness in key verticals like banking and financial services. They are also witnessing clients across the globe shifting their IT budgets more towards new technologies like digital and automation.