Nielsen doubles services contact with TCS to $2.5 bn

NEW YORK: US-based consumer research firm Nielsen has extended its ongoing contract with Tata Consultancy Services ( TCS) by three years and more than doubled the value to $2.5 billion.

In a communique to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), The Nielsen Company said it has amended its agreement with the Indian company to extend it for a period of three years so as to expire on December 31, 2020.

TCS and Nielsen had signed the 10-year, billion-dollar services deal in October 2007.

"Nielsen has increased its commitment to purchase services from TCS from $1 billion to $2.5 billion over the life of the contract, including a commitment to purchase at least $100 million in services per year," the filing to SEC added.

TCS will globally provide Nielsen with professional services relating to IT (including application development and maintenance), BPO, client service KPO, management sciences, analytics, and financial planning and analytics, it said.

The expansion of this billion-dollar scale comes at a time when there are concerns over clients trimming their IT budgets amid economic uncertainties.

The $100 billion Indian IT sector has been facing pressure to maintain profit margins as clients in key markets like the US and Europe have been cautious on their IT spending amid an uncertain global economy.

Indian IT companies earn close to 80 per cent of their revenues from North American and European markets.

TCS has maintained that it expects to beat the industry's export revenue growth forecast of 11-14 per cent in FY 2012-13 set by industry body Nasscom.