MUMBAI: Debashis Poddar may have a busy two years ahead. The global head of mergers and acquisitions at Tata Consultancy ServicesBSE -0.23 % is expected to help boost the company's appetite for M&A deals when its rivals are dipping deep into their wallets to buy growth.

TCS, the country's largest software services company, has always been a conservative player in the M&A space, a trait it used to share with others in the IT industry. However, over the past few months, Infosys and Cognizant Technology Solutions have become more aggressive in buying companies, while Wipro is boosting investments in startups.

Tata Consultancy Services, the IT arm of the Tata Group, has been ranked fifty-seventh in valuation firm Brand Finance's latest list of the top 500 brands in the US. TCS's brand value has jumped nearly four times in the last five years to touch $8.7 billion now, Brand Finance said. In 2010, TCS's brand value was $2.3 billion, it said.

Interestingly tech companies have made it to the top three spots in the list. Apple is number one, followed by Google and Microsoft.

Between Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro and Infosys, the three bigwigs of the Indian IT space, it seems that that employees are jumping the ship at a rate faster than ever.

The annual attrition rate at Infosys stood at 18.9%, Wipro average at around 15% and TCS shed nearly 48,000 employees last year, averaging at 14.9% in the last quarter of fiscal year 2015.

Vishal Sikka-led Infosys is expected to see a 60-70-basis-point (bps) decline in its operating profit margin as it closes the fourth quarter of FY15 hit by cross-currency movements. At the same time, speculation is mounting that the IT major is close to announcing another acquisition in the digital domain.

Infosys, which will announce its results on Friday in Chennai, is not expected to buck the trend, as witnessed in the quarterly performances of TCS and Wipro, which recorded flattish revenue growth and tepid profits.

Mutual fund houses offloaded shares of pharmaceutical major Lupin Ltd, information technology (IT) giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Motilal Oswal Financial Services over the last two months.

While fund managers reduced their cash holdings and went on a buying spree over the last two months, they avoided these stocks.

The country's largest information technology (IT) services provider, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), believes the huge cash payout in FY15 will not affect its cash flow or its ability to invest in growth areas. The company also said that the idea behind the bonus payout was to allow the 250,000 employees to use it the way they want to.

Rajesh Gopinathan, chief financial officer, said that even after the payout of Rs 2,628 crore as employee bonus, the company is left with an additional cash reserve of Rs 1,000 crore.

The top ten stock picks of India's equity mutual fund managers underwent a sharp re-shuffle in 2014-15. MF managers not only changed their preferences for stocks but also ousted three heavyweight counters from their top holdings during the year, reducing concentration of equity assets in these stocks by around 440 basis points.

Sectoral giants - FMCG major ITC, largest software company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and oil explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) - were all out from the top picks.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)’ earnings for the quarter ended March this year were hit by a one-time bonus payment, currency headwinds and weakness in verticals such as telecom, energy and insurance.

According to International Financial Reporting Standards figures, the company reported a net profit of Rs 3,858 crore for the March quarter, down 27 per cent on an annual basis and 29 per cent in sequential terms. If the cumulative bonus payout of Rs 2,628 crore to employees isn’t factored in, profit for the quarter stands at Rs 5,905.9 crore, growth of 11.5 per cent annually and 8.5 per cent sequentially.

Inflation data, quarterly results of bluechips like TCS and RIL are expected to keep markets volatile in a holiday-shortened week ahead, say experts. Stock markets will remain closed on Tuesday for Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti.

Besides, investment trend by foreign investors, movement of rupee against dollar and crude oil prices will also dictate trends on the bourses.

Infosys on Wednesday said it will announce its earnings for the fourth quarter and the fiscal ended March 2015 on April 24, a deviation from its usual practice of kicking off the corporate results season.

Instead, it will be India’s largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) that will announce its set of numbers on April 16.

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