TCS Overtakes Accenture to Become World’s Most Valued IT Company

India’s largest IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) brand value grew by $1.4 billion in 2020, the highest among IT services firms globally, according to Brand Finance 2021 report.

According to the report, TCS became the most valuable IT firm in the world in market capitalization surpassing Accenture. In the process, it also became the most valuable Indian firm in the country, overtaking Reliance Industries. The company’s brand value stood at $14,924 million in 2021 as opposed to $13,499 million in 2020.

In addition, TCS Chief Executive Officer Rajesh Gopinathan was ranked fifth in the Brand Guardianship Index 2021, which lists the top 100 CEO globally. Mukesh Ambani followed him taking the sixth position, while Ajay Banga of Mastercard topped the list. Salil Parekh, CEO, Infosys was ranked at the 17th spot.

“With what was a very tough 2020, led so ably by its CEO Rajesh Gopinathan, TCS has excelled itself once again. Along with 10 percent growth in its brand, its market cap also hit pole position in its industry and it is increasingly closing in on the top two in the IT services sector table,” said David Haigh, Chief Executive Officer, Brand Finance, in a statement.

According to the report, this was possible because of the company’s ability to quickly adapt to new ways of working through the launch of its Secure Borderless Workspaces, its remote working platform and its robust financial, customer and market performance amid the pandemic.

Apart from TCS, the other key brands that featured in the Brand Finance report under Global 500 include Accenture (ranked 60). Bengaluru-based Infosys was ranked at 212 in brand value at $8,402 million, up 18.6 percent from $7,087 million last year. Cognizant’s brand value dipped from the rank of 219 in 2020 to 231. Other Indian IT firms HCL was ranked 353, up from 425 in 2020 and Wipro’s rank rose to 457 in 2021 from 493 last year.

However, this is not the first time that TCS has bagged the top spot in the market. Back in April 2018, TCS reached the $100 billion valuation mark and took down Accenture’s pinnacle position in the market.

Following the company released better-than-expected results for the December quarter, Edelweiss said, “The Company has returned to positive growth zone on a YoY basis, and management is confident of regaining double-digit growth trajectory.”

This is indeed good news for the tech sector that continues to struggle with stalled trade during the COVID-19 pandemic. Employees were forced to work from home, thereby raising costs. Most companies even lost billings as they generated most of their business abroad.

In the second quarter, however, the technology sector made a rebound with the aid of large deal wins, client spending on cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things as businesses moved online. In fact, top firms in the IT services space including IBM and Accenture have a huge focus on cloud and digital technologies. TCS too focused not only on emerging technologies, but also reported contract wins worth $6.8 billion in the quarter ended December.