Infosys Strikes $450-Million Deal With Denmark's Danske Bank In Times Of Slowdown

Infosys Ltd. has won a $450-million digital transformation contract from Denmark's Danske Bank A/S, as Europe continues to emerge as a saviour for India's $245-billion IT services industry that’s facing a slowdown in dealmaking in the US—their biggest market.

The five-year deal, which can be renewed for up to three years, will see India’s IT bellwether acquire the Danish lender’s IT centre in India and bring on board its 1,400 employees, as per an exchange filing on Monday. The company will deploy Infosys Topaz, its recently launched Generative AI suite of services, to transform the IT operations of Danske Bank globally.

Infosys expects deal transactions to be completed before September end.

"Infosys will collaborate with Danske Bank to strengthen their core business with greater digital, cloud, and data capabilities," Salil Parekh, chief executive officer at Infosys, said in a statement accompanying the exchange filing. "This will help Danske Bank create more value for their customers using powerful advances in AI, including generative AI."

The Infosys-Danske Bank deal underscores Europe’s importance in Indian IT’s scheme of things, especially when deal-making has slowed to a trickle in the US amid fears of a recession. 

Infosys recently acquired BASE Life Sciences in Denmark and Fluido in Finland and opened new proximity centres in Gothenburg, Sweden, and Oslo, Norway. Its larger rival, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., which recently saw a $2-billion deal scrapped in the US, signed an equally large deal with the UK’s National Employment Savings Trust—its fourth such contract in Europe so far this year.

Danske Bank, which provides banking services to individuals as well as corporates, also furthers the generative AI agenda of India’s second-largest IT services firm.

"Infosys has the tools, experience, and expertise to support us in accelerating our digital transformation using cloud and AI technologies," Frans Woelders, chief operating officer at Danske Bank, said in the statement. "Given Infosys’ global presence and scale, this collaboration will also give us access to wider talent pools and capabilities."