Accenture's Q3 GenAI Bookings of $1.5 billion Far Ahead of Indian IT Services Firms Accenture increased its data and AI workforce to approximately 75,000, continuing progress against our goal of 80,000 by the end of FY26.

Dublin-based IT major Accenture has been leading on the generative AI (GenAI) front with Q3 bookings of USD 1.5 billion and over USD 700 million of revenues. This translates to a Q3 year-to-date total GenAI bookings of USD 4.1 billion and revenue of USD 1.8 billion.

Accenture's GenAI numbers are the highest in industry and far ahead of all Indian IT services companies. Among Indian companies, so far only Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has declared revenue from this emerging technology.

Last fiscal, TCS management said during its Q1 earnings that it has about USD 1.5 billion worth of AI and Gen AI projects in the pipeline as of the first quarter ended June 30.

TCS had clocked USD 900 million worth of AI and Gen AI projects as of the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2024. K. Krithivasan, CEO and MD, TCS, said during the Q1 earnings, "We are currently executing about 270 AI projects across TCS."

"GenAI has been a catalyst for reinvention because the power of GenAI has created the opportunity to meet challenges in new ways and is creating new opportunities to achieve even better results than any single technology in the internet era. And yet Gen AI alone is just a tool. The work needed to use Gen AI to create value at scale is substantial," Julie Sweet, CEO, Accenture said in a post-earnings call.

"We increased our data and AI workforce to approximately 75,000, continuing progress against our goal of 80,000 by the end of FY26," Sweet said.

Accenture, which follows a September-August financial year, was first among IT companies to declare its quarterly earnings. It has increased the upper end of the annual revenue growth guidance between 6-7 per cent, compared with its prior forecast of 5-7 per cent.

It reported revenues of USD 17.7 billion, an increase of 8 per cent in US dollars and 7 per cent in local currency for the March-May quarter. Its operating margin stood at 16.8 per cent, an increase of 80 basis points, and an increase of 40 basis points compared to adjusted operating margin.

Accenture's earnings, seen as a barometer for the Indian IT services sector, seems to have failed to cheer the Indian markets with tech stocks falling about 3 per cent post the results. However, CLSA has retained its positive stance on the Indian IT sector. The brokerage also cited the strength in Accenture's BFSI segment, something similar that has been observed in the commentary of India's IT companies as well.