Synopsis: Coforge has emerged ahead of KPIT Technologies and Tata Elxsi by growing faster and building a more resilient business model. Its broader industry mix, steadier execution, and selective acquisitions have helped it avoid the pressures facing automotive-focused peers while creating better visibility for future growth across global digital services markets.
The Indian technology services industry has several well-known companies that are considered strong performers, including KPIT Technologies and Tata Elxsi. These firms have built solid reputations in their respective areas and are widely respected in the market. However, in recent years, one company has been steadily doing better than the rest, growing faster and gaining more attention. What is helping this company move ahead of its competitors when all of them operate in similar industries?
About Coforge
Coforge is a global digital services company that helps businesses use technology to improve their operations and grow. The company works closely with clients in select industries, developing a strong understanding of their processes and challenges. By combining industry knowledge with modern technologies, Coforge supports organisations on their digital transformation journey. It follows a product engineering-led model and uses tools such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data analytics, integration, and automation to build smarter and more efficient businesses.
The company operates through 33 delivery centers across 25 countries, giving it a strong global presence. Over the years, Coforge has climbed rapidly in industry rankings, moving from the 18th position in 2017 to becoming the 7th largest player by 2025. In doing so, it has surpassed several well-known peers, including Mphasis, Persistent, Hexaware, LTTS, Sonata Software, Cyient, KPIT, Birlasoft, Zensar, Hinduja Global, and Tata Elxsi.
But How?
In this “But How?” section, we focus only on Coforge’s performance compared with KPIT Technologies and Tata Elxsi. The aim is to understand how Coforge has been able to grow faster and perform better than these two peers.
Superior Revenue Growth Rates
Over the last five quarters, Coforge has consistently grown much faster than its peers. The company recorded year-on-year revenue growth ranging from 28 percent to 56 percent, showing strong and steady momentum. In comparison, KPIT Technologies grew at a much slower pace, with quarterly growth moving between 7.9 percent and 17.6 percent. Tata Elxsi performed even weaker, with its revenue fluctuating between a decline of 3.87 percent and a modest increase of 2.73 percent. This shows that while Coforge maintained high growth, its competitors struggled to deliver similar performance on a quarterly basis.
On an annual basis, the gap becomes even clearer. In FY2025, Coforge delivered a solid 33 percent revenue growth, reflecting strong demand for its services. KPIT Technologies managed a growth of 19.93 percent, which is significantly lower, while Tata Elxsi grew by just 4.98 percent. This highlights that Coforge is not only growing faster quarter-to-quarter but also outperforming its peers over a full financial year.
Looking at compounded sales growth on a trailing twelve-month basis, Coforge stands out even more with 39 percent growth. KPIT Technologies recorded only 11 percent, while Tata Elxsi saw a decline of one percent. KPIT’s performance is particularly noteworthy because it had grown very strongly in FY23 and FY24, with revenue rising by 38.34 percent and 44.77 percent respectively. However, growth slowed sharply in FY25 to 19.93 percent. While this is still decent in absolute terms, it fell well below market expectations, which had positioned KPIT as a high-growth automotive technology company.
Diversification Advantage Vs. Automotive Dependence
Coforge stands out because of its broad and balanced business mix across industries and services. Its revenue is spread across banking and financial services at 27.6 percent, insurance at 15.1 percent, travel, transport and hospitality at 23.3 percent, government work outside India at 7.0 percent, and other segments at 26.9 percent. On the services side, its portfolio is diversified across engineering at 46.1 percent, intelligent automation at 7.8 percent, data and integration at 21.2 percent, cloud and infrastructure management at 17.1 percent, and business process management at 7.8 percent.
This diversity helped the company deliver strong growth in the first six months of fiscal 2026, with banking growing 17 percent, insurance rising 6 percent, TTH jumping 61 percent, government business outside India increasing 15 percent, and other segments growing 31 percent. Better execution and operating efficiency also lifted its operating margin to 17.1 percent in the first half compared to 17.0 percent in the same period of the previous year.
KPIT Technologies and Tata Elxsi, however, are far more concentrated in automotive and engineering R&D, which has become a weak spot recently. A slowdown in electric vehicle adoption and delays in technology programs by major car manufacturers in the US and Europe have hurt their growth. KPIT’s heavy exposure to these regions has been a challenge as geopolitical tensions, especially US–China tariff issues, have disrupted global automotive supply chains and investment plans.
Car makers have been cautious, cutting back or delaying long-term software projects and squeezing engineering budgets. Europe’s weak economic conditions, high energy costs, and tougher regulations have further pressured auto companies, reducing their spending on external engineering services. For KPIT, this has meant slower project ramp-ups, delayed decisions, and shifting client priorities, even though it continues to engage with customers and maintain its pipeline.
Tata Elxsi also faces similar concentration risks due to its strong dependence on exports and the automotive cycle. In Q3FY26, Europe alone contributed 42.1 percent of its revenue, followed by the Americas at 32 percent, India at 16.7 percent, and the rest of the world at 9.3 percent. The company is also highly dependent on a small group of clients, with its top five customers accounting for 49.4 percent of revenue and the top ten making up 59.4 percent. In addition, transportation is its dominant business vertical, contributing 56.6 percent of total revenue. Compared to Coforge’s diversified model across banking, digital services, and multiple industries, Tata Elxsi’s narrower focus makes it more vulnerable to downturns in the global automotive sector.
Aggressive Inorganic Expansion
Coforge has strengthened its business through smart acquisitions while continuing to grow organically. The purchase of Cigniti helped the company expand its presence in banking and financial services and also enter new areas such as retail, hi-tech, and healthcare. The acquisition of Encora is even more significant, as it is expected to take Coforge’s hi-tech and healthcare businesses to a USD 170 million annual run-rate.
Together with Encora, Coforge is on track to become a roughly USD 2.5 billion company, equivalent to around Rs 23,000 crore, supported by cross-selling opportunities across a larger combined client base. The deal also increases Coforge’s footprint in the United States, which brings both opportunities and exposure to region-specific risks. Even so, by combining organic growth from existing clients with inorganic expansion through acquisitions, Coforge has outperformed its peers and is likely to sustain this momentum over the medium term.
The financial impact of this acquisition-led strategy is clearly visible in Coforge’s performance. In fiscal 2025, the company’s consolidated operating income rose by 31 percent year-on-year to Rs 12,091 crore, largely supported by the integration of Cigniti and stronger execution, far ahead of the industry’s single-digit growth. In the first half of fiscal 2026, Coforge’s revenue increased by 40 percent year-on-year to Rs 7,674 crore, again driven by Cigniti and other acquisitions. These numbers highlight how Coforge has successfully used inorganic growth to accelerate scale while maintaining strong operational performance.
Coforge’s order book has also expanded significantly, rising nearly six times from USD 507 million in fiscal 2018 to USD 3.5 billion in fiscal 2026, backed by large contract wins in travel and BFSI. A higher share of new wins in total contract value has reduced business risk and improved visibility of future revenue. The Encora acquisition is expected to further strengthen Coforge’s presence in the West and Mid-West regions of the US while also creating cost synergies that can support margin improvement. At the same time, Coforge’s existing business will benefit from cross-selling across a broader client base, making this an aggressive but strategically strong expansion that enhances both growth and profitability.
Conclusion
Coforge is outperforming KPIT Technologies and Tata Elxsi because it has grown faster, taken less risk, and built a more balanced business. Unlike its peers, which are heavily dependent on the slowing automotive sector, Coforge serves multiple industries such as banking, insurance, travel, and government, which has protected it from downturns in any one area.
At the same time, smart acquisitions like Cigniti and Encora have helped it expand into new markets, win bigger clients, and scale up quickly without hurting profitability. As a result, Coforge has been able to deliver stronger revenue growth, better stability, and clearer future visibility than KPIT and Tata Elxsi, making it the better-performing company in recent years.
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