TCS market cap slips below Rs 10 lakh crore for first time since Dec 2020; ICICI Bank overtakes

A day after State Bank of India (SBI) overtook Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to become the fourth most valuable listed company by market capitalisation, ICICI Bank climbed to the fifth position on Thursday, pushing the IT major further down the rankings.

The private lender’s market capitalisation surpassed that of TCS for the first time since June 2009. As of 14:55 pm, ICICI Bank’s market cap stood at Rs 10,20,22 crore trillion, compared with Rs 9,97,380 crore for TCS on the BSE.

ICICI Bank shares rose as much as 1.5 per cent to Rs 1,428, their highest level since January 16. In contrast, TCS extended its slide, falling nearly 5 per cent to Rs 2,766, marking its lowest level since December 2020. The broader market also remained weak, with the Nifty 50 down over 0.5 per cent during the session.

Add Zee Business as a Preferred Source

According to BSE data, Reliance Industries continues to top the market-cap rankings with a valuation of Rs 19.71 trillion, followed by HDFC Bank at Rs 14.19 trillion and Bharti Airtel at Rs 11.51 trillion.

Reason behind TCS slipping down the rankings

Main reason behind the slipping of TCS ranking is that TCS shares, along with other IT stocks, have come under heavy selling pressure in the backdrop of growing investor concerns regarding artificial intelligence-led disruption to the global technology services industry. The selloff intensified after AI startup Anthropic launched a productivity tool targeted at in-house legal teams, raising fears that similar tools could impact demand for traditional software and IT services.

On Thursday, the Nifty IT index slipped nearly 5 per cent and is now down 11.7 per cent so far this year, falling to its lowest level since April 2025. Among IT stocks, Wipro has seen the sharpest decline this year, down 16.8 per cent, followed by Coforge (down 14 per cent), LTIMindtree (down 13.8 per cent) and TCS (down 13.5 per cent).

Analyst view and outlook

Analysts at Motilal Oswal said they will continue to closely track AI-native partnerships over the next three to six months, which are expected to be a key growth driver over the next year. The brokerage expects a pick-up in AI services deals by mid-2026, largely in the form of short-cycle contracts.

“We are seeing an acceleration in AI partnerships, and hence maintain our view on the sector for now,” Motilal Oswal said.

In an earlier note, ICICI Securities said global SaaS players such as Salesforce and other enterprise software firms have also seen heavy selling, as markets factor in faster AI-led disruption to legacy business models. However, the brokerage added that IT services companies continue to play a critical role in large-scale integration, governance, data modernisation and system orchestration, even as AI adoption accelerates.

TCS Q3FY26 performance

In the December quarter, TCS reported a 13.9 per cent year-on-year decline in net profit at Rs 10,657 crore, compared with Rs 12,380 crore in Q3FY25. On a sequential basis, profit fell 11.7 per cent.

While the company’s revenue performance beat Bloomberg estimates, profit missed expectations due to restructuring costs, one-time expenses related to labour code changes, and a Rs 1,010 crore provision for a legal claim.