In a year marked by widespread challenges for India's $283-billion information technology services industry, Coforge Ltd has scripted a remarkable success story. Under the leadership of its long-serving CEO Sudhir Singh, the company not only achieved the fastest sequential growth among its top 10 peers in calendar 2025 but also executed two landmark transactions: a $1.56 billion product delivery deal with Sabre and the sector's largest-ever acquisition, the $2.35 billion purchase of California-based Encora.
Steady Leadership in Turbulent Times
The stability provided by CEO Sudhir Singh, at the helm since May 2017, has been a cornerstone of Coforge's resilience. Singh, an Infosys and Genpact veteran, is the longest-serving chief executive among India's major IT services firms. During his tenure, the company's revenue has multiplied more than fourfold, reaching $1.47 billion in FY25, a 31% annual jump. This growth starkly contrasts with the broader sector, which grappled with low demand, uncertain tax rules, and visa mobility issues.
The journey, however, was not without significant hurdles. The COVID-19 pandemic, which boosted digital transformation deals for many IT firms, initially hurt Coforge due to its heavy reliance on the travel and transportation vertical. This segment, which constituted 28% of its business in FY20, shrank to less than a fifth within a year as global lockdowns halted travel. The company's strategic pivot towards banking and a relentless focus on delivery execution became its path to recovery.
A Machine Built for Mega-Deals
Central to Coforge's recent triumphs is what Singh describes as a unique "deal solutioning" engine. Unlike typical system integrators, Coforge's solution team operates in the market and is staffed by talent hired from top-tier consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, and Deloitte. "The single most important measure for turning in year after year sustained performance is every week's count of proactive large-deal proposals submitted," Singh emphasized during a July earnings call.
This disciplined approach bore fruit spectacularly in March 2025. Defying the industry's deal drought, Coforge secured a 13-year, $1.56 billion software product delivery contract with Texas-based travel-tech giant Sabre. This was India's second-largest IT deal of the year and a rare billion-dollar-plus win for a mid-tier firm. The rapid ramp-up of this deal contributed significantly to the company's revenue, with a third of its $20 million incremental revenue in a recent quarter coming from the travel vertical.
The Historic Encora Acquisition and Investor Scrutiny
Singh saved his boldest move for the year's end. On December 26, 2025, Coforge announced the acquisition of Encora for $2.35 billion, the largest ever in Indian IT history. The company plans to fund this through a $1.9 billion share sale and a $550 million qualified institutional placement (loan). Analysts believe this acquisition narrows the competitive gap with larger tier-1 firms by deepening Coforge's digital engineering capabilities.
However, the move has drawn mixed reactions. While it is seen as capability-centric and aligned with higher-growth verticals, some analysts consider it expensive, priced at nearly four times Encora's annual revenue of $516 million. Investor caution was evident as Coforge's share price fell 10.4% following the fund-raising announcement, with concerns about equity dilution and the company's declining free cash flow conversion, which dropped from 15% in FY20 to 5% in FY25.
Despite these concerns, brokerages like HSBC and Nomura project strong growth, expecting Coforge to reach $2 billion in revenues by FY27. The company's operating margin also saw a healthy 260 basis points jump to 14% in the July-September 2025 quarter. As Sudhir Singh looks ahead, he expects the "next eight years to be as exciting, if not more, than the last eight," signaling that this Noida-based IT veteran is just getting started.
