amid muted growth in north America — the largest tech spender — top IT companies like TCS, Infosys and HCLTech have been increasingly focusing on Australia this year. They are winning not just BFSI, retail and government contracts, but also collaborating with sports bodies in the southern continent.While deals from Australia kept flowing through the year, top companies bagged back-to-back deals in the past two months. HCLTech this month was selected by the department of transport and planning in Victoria, Australia, to automate the concession entitlement process for public transport users.IT bellwether TCS signed a strategic partnership with Australian stock exchange operator ASX along with Accenture to overhaul the bourse’s trading clearing, and settlement system. The estimated cost for the first release (clearing) of the project is between $105 and $125 million, to be incurred over multiple years.Similarly, Infosys announced this month it has helped enhance Australia’s Spotlight Retail Group’s customer growth via an omnichannel digital fulfilment and advanced analytics platform built by it. Infosys leveraged its flagship solution, Infosys Topaz, to enable a hyper-personalised online shopping experience for the retail firm’s customers.HCLTech in August announced that it has been selected by Cricket Australia (CA), the national governing body for the game in Australia, for the next phase of CA’s digital transformation. This year, HCLTech became Australia’s official team sponsor in the cricket World Cup.Analysts say these sports deals have a promotion aspect to them as well. This works well for both parties as the high-profile sports teams help IT services firms promote their brand and develop further brand equity in different geographies.Infosys, similarly collaborated with Tennis Australia, Tennis Victoria and Tennis New South Wales to nurture future leaders in the states of Victoria and New South Wales. In April, TCS extended its partnership with the Canberra Times Marathon Festival (CTMF), consolidating the company’s role as the Presenting and official app partner until 2026.Analysts say that Indian IT companies look at Australia slightly differently from other regions in the Asia Pacific market. While Asia Pacific region gives lower margins to IT services firms than western markets, Australia, also an English-speaking country, is a better market as far as pricing is concerned.IT firms have also beenappointing new leaders for the Australian market. HCLTech, Tech Mahindra, Wipro and Coforge have appointed new leaders for the region over the last one year.
