Bangalore, Thursday, Jul 24, 2008: Top IT bigwigs have preferred to keep their Q-2 earnings predictions on a muted level, thus reflecting the caution that the IT and ITeS industries have been feeling of late.

Bogged down by a slowing economy, US customers had delayed or postponed their investment decisions on new technology and applications deployment, as a result of which Indian companies have witnessed uncertain times over the last two quarters.

Domain experts believe that the slowdown will persist through 2008, given that it is an election year in the US, though they believe that the overall pace of contracts awarded in the global outsourcing industry, albeit in the non-discretionary category.

Siddharth Pai, head of the Indian arm of TPI Inc., the technology advisory firm based out of the US, feels that the non discretionary category made up of applications maintenance would form the bulk of contracts being handed out over the next couple of quarters.

Indian vendors have relatively less share in this field though within six months the industry can expect a uptrend in project-based work, he has been quoted as saying in an article on Live Mint Journal. The report also quotes stock brokers as saying that though results of IT bigwigs were pretty much on expected lines, concerns would continue over the next three to six months.