Cognizant sees Q1 growth led by AI, large deals in healthcare and financial services

US-based IT major Cognizant Technology Solutions, which has a substantial chunk of employees in India, on Thursday, reported a 7.45% year-on-year growth in revenue to $5.1 billion for the quarter ended on March 2025, driven by increased demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-led IT services.

Cognizant, which follows the January-December financial year, also raised its annual revenue forecast expecting it in the range of $20.5 billion to $21.0 billion, compared to previous outlook of the midpoint of $20.30 billion and $20.80 billion. CEO Ravi Kumar S said the firm has started the year on a strong note, delivering revenue and adjusted operating margin ahead of expectations. “The breadth and depth of our portfolio, combined with our deep industry and domain expertise, position us well as a strategic partner for clients in an increasingly complex macroeconomic environment,” he told analysts.
"We believe our differentiated AI and platform capabilities are helping clients navigate the near-term uncertainty while embarking on longer-term AI-led transformation," he added.

Cognizant has reportedly trained 4 lakh people in AI as part of its goal to impart such skills to 1 million individuals by 2026. The company’s Synapse initiative was launched to train employees in advanced technologies like Generative AI. The company works with governments, academic institutions, and industry partners to train over one million individuals. Recent acquisitions of Belcan and Thirdera contributed approximately 400 basis points to YoY growth in revenue, the company said in a statement.
Furthermore, the company has close to 1,400 early-gen AI projects and is working with hyperscalers to accelerate the cross-industry adoption of AI technology in five key areas: enterprise AI agents, industry-specific large-language models, digital twins for smart manufacturing, foundational infrastructure for AI, and its new AI platform for integration of NVIDIA AI technology and orchestration. 

The company said its bookings increased 3% YoY to $26.7 billion, indicating a book-to-bill of approximately 1.3x. However, bookings in the first quarter declined 7% YoY. During the quarter, the company signed 4 large deals, down from 10 in the previous quarter, each with total contract value (TCV) of $100 million or more. This included one mega deal, worth over $500 million, in the quarter. Geography-wise, the company grew its share of revenue from North America by 9.7% to $3.85 billion, while the European region increased by 3% to $950 million. Among verticals, health sciences—Cognizant’s largest segment—grew 11.4% year-on-year, followed by financial services which rose 6.5%, and products and resources were up 13.6%, all in constant currency.

The company ended Q1 with approximately 3,36,300 employees, the vast majority of which are located in India. Attrition increased by 2.7 percentage points to 15.8% on a trailing 12-month basis.