MAM
ASN joins hand with SportzPower for South Asian region
MUMBAI: ASN (formerly Asia Sponsorship News) has entered into a strategic business partnership with SportzPower for the South Asian market, which includes Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India.
ASN is an independent intelligence service for non-traditional media that has been tracking and analysing over 10,000 ‘sponsorship’ deals for almost a decade over a varied fields including sports, branded content, native advertising, movie partnerships and celebrity endorsements.
Shedding light upon what this alliance means for India, ASN founder and CEO Ben Heyhoe Flint says, “Our data shows India as the second biggest market for sponsorship and branded content in Asia, next to China, so our partnership with Sportz Network Pvt Ltd is pivotal in enabling us to get under the skin of this enormous marketplace. With them, we look forward to unlocking even more insights into this seemingly complex trading environment.”
This is backed by the fact that ASN’s India Index, ASN’s tracker of all non-traditional investment in India alone reached $740 million in 2014, representing a 9.2 per cent YoY gain and a 15 per cent share of the entire ASN Index.
Sportz Network co-founder Thomas Abraham stresses upon India’s fast growing sponsorship market and ASN’s potential in the local markets where brands need the right information and analysis to buy, sell or plan their sponsorship activity.
Brands
Wipro hires 7,500 freshers, withholds FY27 hiring outlook
Profit rises to Rs 3,522 crore, Rs 15,000 crore buyback announced.
MUMBAI- Hiring may be on, but visibility is off, Wipro is adding talent even as it pauses the crystal ball. The company hired 7,500 freshers in FY26 but stopped short of offering any hiring outlook for FY27, underscoring the uncertainty gripping the IT services sector as it pivots towards an AI-led operating model.
The disclosure came alongside its fourth-quarter earnings, where management flagged volatile demand conditions and refrained from committing to future workforce expansion. Chief human resources officer Saurabh Govil noted that over 3,000 of the total hires were onboarded in the March quarter alone, signalling continued intake despite a lack of clarity on deployment pipelines.
This divergence active hiring without forward guidance reflects a broader industry pattern where talent acquisition continues even as deal conversions remain uneven and client spending cycles stretch. Wipro expects its IT services revenue for the June quarter to range between a decline of 2 per cent and flat growth sequentially in constant currency terms, reinforcing near-term caution.
Chief executive officer Srini Pallia pointed to artificial intelligence as both a disruptor and an opportunity. He said evolving client priorities are pushing the company towards outcome-driven engagements, with Wipro increasingly focusing on a services-as-software model through its AI Native Business and Platforms unit. The shift marks a structural change from traditional headcount-led growth to AI-enabled delivery frameworks.
The company has already committed over $1 billion to its AI ecosystem, with investors closely watching how these investments translate into revenue. For now, the numbers present a mixed picture. Net profit rose sequentially to Rs 3,522 crore, while revenue grew 3 per cent to Rs 24,236 crore. However, core IT services performance remained under pressure, with full-year revenue declining 0.3 per cent in dollar terms and 1.6 per cent in constant currency.
Large deal bookings offered a counterpoint, rising 45.4 per cent year-on-year to $7.8 billion, highlighting a widening gap between deal wins and actual revenue realisation. On a quarterly basis, IT services revenue slipped 1.2 per cent sequentially, signalling continued softness in execution.
Margins, however, told a more optimistic story. Operating margins expanded to 17.3 per cent in the fourth quarter, up from 14.8 per cent in the previous quarter, reflecting improved cost discipline. That said, the company cautioned that upcoming wage hikes and the ramp-up of large deals could exert pressure going forward.
Attrition stood at 13.8 per cent in the March quarter, indicating stabilisation after periods of elevated churn. Alongside its earnings, Wipro also announced a Rs 15,000 crore share buyback, reinforcing its focus on shareholder returns, with a payout ratio of 88 per cent over the past three years.
Taken together, the numbers capture a company in transition investing in AI, maintaining hiring momentum, but navigating a demand environment where growth is uneven and visibility remains limited.
