Infosys at PPFCF

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Infosys Limited is among the periodic Indian-IT-services holdings of the Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund (PPFCF). The position has appeared in PPFCF factsheet portfolio listings across multiple cycles, alongside other technology-sector holdings such as TCS at PPFCF, HCL Technologies at PPFCF and Persistent Systems at PPFCF.

The Infosys thesis combines several elements of the broader PPFAS investment philosophy. First, business-quality: Infosys is among the world’s largest IT services companies, with a diversified client base, strong delivery capability, deep digital and cloud transformation expertise and dollar-revenue exposure that provides natural rupee-depreciation hedging. Second, cyclical valuation-driven entry: the team has typically built or added to the position during cyclical compression windows when valuations have moved below long-term averages.

The position is also a useful illustration of PPFAS value investing applied to a global services franchise headquartered in India. Indian IT services has been characterised by cyclical demand swings tied to global enterprise technology spending, with periodic compression in price-to-earnings multiples followed by re-rating cycles. PPFAS’s willingness to look through these cycles has supported multi-period holding patterns. The position also illustrates the PPFAS contrarian investing bias of buying during sentiment troughs.

This article documents Infosys’s role in PPFCF: the company background, the investment thesis articulated by Rajeev Thakkar and Raunak Onkar (who tracks the technology sector), the position history across multiple factsheet cycles, recent positioning, and the comparison with peer holdings.

Company background

Infosys Limited was incorporated on 2 July 1981 as Infosys Consultants Private Limited by N. R. Narayana Murthy and six co-founders (Nandan Nilekani, S. Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh, N. S. Raghavan and Ashok Arora) in Pune. The company was renamed Infosys Technologies Limited in 1982 and later renamed Infosys Limited in 2011 to reflect its broader business scope.

Infosys is among the world’s largest IT services companies, providing business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. The company operates across financial services, retail, communications, energy, utilities, resources, services, manufacturing, hi-tech, life sciences and healthcare verticals. Its service portfolio includes digital services, cloud migration, data and analytics, cybersecurity, engineering services, automation and traditional infrastructure and application services. Key platforms include Infosys Cobalt (cloud), Infosys Topaz (AI-first solutions) and Infosys Finacle (core banking software).

The company’s equity shares are listed on the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange and are constituents of the Nifty 50 and the Sensex. Infosys American Depository Shares (ADS) are also listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker INFY. The official corporate website is infosys.com. The registered office is at Electronics City, Hosur Road, Bangalore.

For Indian retail investors, exposure to Infosys is straightforward through direct equity purchase on the NSE/BSE or through diversified equity mutual fund schemes. PPFCF’s exposure delivers indirect ownership through a SEBI Mutual Funds Regulations 1996 registered scheme.

Investment thesis at PPFCF

The PPFAS thesis on Infosys has been articulated across monthly factsheets and at the PPFAS Annual Unitholders Meet. The argument rests on several pillars.

First, PPFAS margin of safety. Infosys’s price-to-earnings multiple has historically compressed during periods of global enterprise-technology spending caution, providing valuation-driven entry points. The team has typically built the position during such compression windows rather than chasing the stock during cyclical upswings.

Second, business-quality and scale. Infosys’s client base spans Fortune 500 corporations with multi-year service contracts, deep technology partnerships and significant switching costs. The recurring-revenue nature of IT services contracts provides cash-flow predictability that is attractive to a long-horizon investor.

Third, dollar-revenue exposure. Infosys earns approximately 80 per cent of revenue in US dollars, providing natural rupee-depreciation hedging that complements pure-domestic-rupee revenue holdings such as banks, FMCG and PSU stocks.

Fourth, balance-sheet quality. Infosys has historically maintained a net-cash balance sheet, with substantial cash and equivalents that support dividends, share buybacks and inorganic opportunities. The company has been a consistent capital returner through periodic buybacks and a steady dividend.

Fifth, digital and AI transformation. Infosys has invested in cloud, AI and data platforms (Cobalt, Topaz) that position it for the next wave of enterprise technology spending. The team has argued that the company’s scale, delivery infrastructure and client relationships allow it to capture a meaningful share of these emerging spending pools.

Sixth, PPFAS focused portfolio discipline. Infosys meets the team’s quality bar through its market position, balance-sheet strength and cash-flow profile.

Position history

Infosys has appeared in PPFCF disclosures across multiple periods. The position has been mentioned in PPFCF factsheet portfolio listings as one of the recurring Indian holdings within the IT-services cluster, alongside TCS, HCL Technologies and Persistent Systems.

Through the 2018 to 2022 window the position fluctuated with IT-services cycles. The COVID-19 pandemic was a positive demand catalyst for Indian IT (cloud migration, remote work, digital transformation accelerated enterprise spending) and produced strong upcycles in 2020 and 2021. The 2022 to 2024 deceleration in global enterprise technology spending produced multiple compression that became a valuation-driven entry window for PPFAS.

The February 2022 SEBI MF overseas investment cap freeze created a structural pivot in which domestic positions received continued allocations. Indian IT-services holdings including Infosys received added attention as the team deployed inflows domestically.

By 2025 and into 2026 the position continued as a periodic significant holding within the broader PPFCF portfolio, though it did not enter the top three (which by April 2026 was HDFC Bank at PPFCF, Power Grid Corporation at PPFCF and Coal India at PPFCF).

Recent positioning

The April 2026 factsheet, with PPFCF AUM at Rs 1,40,949 crore (up 9.29 per cent month-on-month from Rs 1,28,966 crore in March 2026), continued to include Infosys within the recurring domestic holdings list. The May 2026 commentary on PPFCF carrying around 18 to 22 per cent in PPFAS cash holdings reflected broader valuation caution.

In monthly factsheet commentary, Rajeev Thakkar and Raunak Onkar (head of research, who tracks the technology sector) have referenced Infosys’s digital-transformation positioning, the AI-services tailwind and the broader Indian IT-services demand trajectory as supports for continued holding.

Comparison with peer holdings

Within PPFCF’s Indian-IT-services cluster, Infosys sits alongside TCS, HCL Technologies and Persistent Systems. Compared with TCS, Infosys typically trades at a lower price-to-earnings multiple and offers higher operational beta to global IT-services demand cycles. Compared with HCL Technologies, Infosys offers more concentrated digital and consulting exposure rather than HCL’s infrastructure-heavy mix. Compared with Persistent Systems, Infosys provides large-cap scale rather than mid-cap engineering-services exposure.

The cluster of four Indian IT-services holdings provides PPFCF with diversified exposure across delivery models, client verticals and price points within the same broad sector. This is consistent with the PPFAS focused portfolio doctrine of holding several positions within a sector when each has distinct underlying drivers.

Compared with international anchors Alphabet at PPFCF, Microsoft at PPFCF, Amazon at PPFCF and Meta Platforms at PPFCF, Infosys provides exposure to enterprise technology services rather than consumer-facing platforms. The combination of Indian-IT-services holdings and US-technology platforms provides multi-layered exposure to the global technology economy.

Within the broader PPFAS focused portfolio framework, Infosys is grouped with ITC at PPFCF, the banking cluster (HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank at PPFCF), the consumer-discretionary cluster (Maruti Suzuki at PPFCF, Mahindra and Mahindra at PPFCF, Bajaj Holdings at PPFCF) and the PSU contrarian positions as anchor Indian holdings.

Context within PPFCF

PPFCF was launched on 24 May 2013 as Parag Parikh Long Term Value Fund (PPLTVF), renamed Parag Parikh Long Term Equity Fund on 16 February 2018 and renamed Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund on 13 January 2021. The scheme is benchmarked against the Nifty 500 TRI and has delivered a compound annual growth rate since inception of approximately 19.06 per cent against a category average of 15.22 per cent and the Nifty 500 TRI at 12.4 per cent. AUM crossed Rs 1 lakh crore in May 2025, making PPFCF the first active equity mutual fund scheme in India to do so, and rose to roughly Rs 1.6 lakh crore by 15 May 2026.

The fund is managed by Rajeev Thakkar along with Raunak Onkar, Raj Mehta, Rukun Tarachandani and other team members. Parag Parikh, the founder of the Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services Limited sponsor entity, established the investing house in 1979 and incorporated PPFAS Ltd in December 1992. The mutual fund was set up with SEBI on 10 October 2012 under registration ID MF/069/12/01.

Infosys has been a recurring topic at the PPFAS Annual Unitholders Meet. The 12th edition was held on 22 November 2025 at Birla Matushree Sabhaghar in Mumbai.

See also

External references

References

  1. PPFAS Mutual Fund, October 2025 factsheet, amc.ppfas.com.
  2. PPFAS Mutual Fund, March 2026 factsheet, amc.ppfas.com.
  3. INDmoney, “PPFAS Flexi Cap April 2026 portfolio update,” indmoney.com.
  4. Angel One, “Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund crosses one lakh crore AUM,” angelone.in.
  5. Business Today, May 2026 cash commentary, businesstoday.in.
  6. Infosys Limited, Annual Report 2024-25, infosys.com.
  7. NASSCOM Strategic Review.

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