Mumbai: The top-five private companies by market capitalization added 578,804 employees in the year ended 31 March, the fewest in 3 years, as companies focused on improving productivity of its existing employees amid a slowdown in the economy.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), ITC Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd and Infosys Ltd, saw their combined headcount rise 5% from the previous year, according to data collated from the annual reports of each of the companies.

Indian software companies gain as a better-than-expected rise in quarterly revenue by Accenture Plc sparks hopes of a robust demand environment, dealers say.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd up 2.7%, Infosys gains 1.4%, Wipro up 1.9%, HCL Technologies rises 3.3% and Tech Mahindra surges 2.3%.

Markets have come off morning highs as weakness in counters like ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and M&M weighed on the indices. At 1130 hrs, the Sensex was up 80 points at 25,143 and the Nifty was up 22 points to trade at 7,514.

In the broader markets, the smallcap index surged 0.6% and the midcap index was up 0.4%, both outperforming the Sensex which was up 0.3%.

Markets extended gains in noon deals with the benchmark indices at day highs, led by gains in realty, power and consumer durable companies.

At 1400 hrs, the Sensex was up 377 points at 25,409 and the Nifty advanced nearly 100 points to trade at 7,590.

We reiterate our buy rating on Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) with a target price of Rs 2,570 per share, valuing the stock at 20x FY16f EPS of Rs 128. The 20x multiple is at the higher end of TCS’ historical valuation range. We expect this to sustain on higher predictability of growth/margins and better positioning to benefit from the demand upturn.

Shares of information technology (IT) companies are trading higher for the fourth consecutive trading session as the Indian rupee weakened against the US dollar.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, MphasiS, Hexaware Technologies, Mindtree and Tech Mahindra are up 1-2%, each in early morning deals on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Various firms of Tata group have lined up capital expenditure worth over Rs 65,000 crore for the current fiscal.

The capex is part of respective medium-term strategies of the different companies covering all the business sectors of the group, ranging from engineering, materials, information technology and communications, consumer products, services, energy to chemicals.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Friday said it was likely to witness a nominal decline in operating margins in Q1FY15, largely due to a forex impact and wage hikes. Moreover, the software major indicated the appreciation in rupee in the quarter was likely to impact the company's topline.

Software exports from Odisha has touched about Rs 2,400 crore in 2013-14, an increase of 23.4 per cent over the previous fiscal, according to the provisional data compiled by Software Technology Parks of India (STPI).

IT units in the state had exported Rs 1,945 crore in 2012-13, including Rs 1,705 crore by the STPI registered units.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country's largest provider of IT services, has over 300,000 people on its rolls and plans to add another 55,000 in the current financial year. This will bring TCS within striking distance of the country's largest employer in the corporate sector, state-owned Coal India which has 357,000 employees.

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