Infosys Limited (NSE: INFY, BSE: 500209, NYSE: INFY) spent Thursday, 27 November 2025, in the spotlight as final numbers for its ₹18,000‑crore share buyback landed — and they were huge. The tender offer has drawn bids more than eight times the size of the issue, even as leading brokerage Jefferies reiterated a bullish stance on the stock.
As of around 3:24 pm IST, Infosys was trading at ₹1,566.90, up about 0.6% for the day, with a trading range of ₹1,552.40–₹1,574.40 and a 52‑week band of roughly ₹1,307–₹2,006. Trailing P/E stood near 23x, below the broader IT sector multiple of about 26x. [1]
At the same time, the US‑listed ADR (NYSE: INFY) last closed at $17.42, gaining about 0.8% in Wednesday’s US session, extending a modest two‑week uptrend. [2]
Infosys share price today: key levels and market context
On 27 November 2025, Infosys shares showed a measured reaction to the blockbuster buyback data:
- NSE/BSE spot price: ~₹1,560–₹1,570 for most of the afternoon; ₹1,566.90 quoted at 3:23:57 pm IST. [3]
- Intraday range: roughly ₹1,552–₹1,574. [4]
- Market capitalisation: about ₹6.5 lakh crore, with a trailing P/E in the 22–23x band and dividend yield close to 2.9%. [5]
- 52‑week range: low near ₹1,307, high around ₹2,006, putting the stock in the lower half of its one‑year band despite a recent rebound. [6]
HDFC Sky’s morning update noted Infosys trading around ₹1,564.60, up 0.4% at 9:36 am IST, with early trade already reflecting the buyback oversubscription headlines. [7]
The broader market backdrop is friendly: Nifty 50 has been flirting with fresh all‑time highs, and IT shares remain in focus after a strong rebound in recent weeks. [8]
Buyback 2025: ₹18,000‑crore offer draws 8.26x bids
The structure of the buyback
Infosys’ 2025 buyback is one of the largest capital‑return exercises in India’s IT sector this year:
- Size: up to 10 crore equity shares, representing about 2.41% of paid‑up capital. [9]
- Mode: tender offer route on NSE and BSE. [10]
- Buyback price:₹1,800 per share, implying a premium of roughly 15–18% over the pre‑announcement trading range and about 15.5% above the 26 November closing price on the BSE. [11]
- Timeline:
- Record date: 14 November 2025
- Tender period: 20–26 November 2025 [12]
The total outlay is capped at ₹18,000 crore, making this the largest buyback in Infosys’ history and its fifth such programme since 2017. [13]
Final subscription numbers: 826% overbooked
On Thursday, multiple outlets converged on one headline statistic: the buyback has been overwhelmingly oversubscribed.
- Total bids: about 82.61 crore shares tendered versus a buyback size of 10 crore shares. [14]
- Oversubscription: approximately 8.26x or 826% of the shares on offer. [15]
Key publications summarising the final numbers today include:
- Times of India, highlighting nearly 82.6 crore shares tendered and confirming that Infosys promoters did not participate in the offer. [16]
- Business Standard, which pegged the response at around 8.3x the issue size or 826 million shares tendered. [17]
- Livemint, noting that the buyback closed with 8.26x bids and framing the big question for investors as whether to buy, hold, or book profits after the event. [18]
- Samco and HDFC Sky, both emphasising the same 8.26x figure and stressing how strong institutional demand made this one of the most aggressively subscribed tender offers in recent years. [19]
Who tendered? Institutions vs retail
The finer breakdown of bids underlines just how much institutional money tried to exit (or book arbitrage) via the buyback:
- HDFC Sky reports total tendered shares at 8,26,10,283, or 826.10% of the 10‑crore limit. [20]
- Within that, mutual funds alone are said to have tendered about 28.04 crore shares, the single largest contribution from any category. [21]
- Other institutional bids include roughly 6.48 crore shares from foreign institutional investors and 5.36 crore shares from banks, insurers and other financial institutions. [22]
- Retail shareholders confirmed at ₹1,800 reportedly tendered over 46 crore shares across roughly 2.8 lakh orders — an enormous response given the reserved retail quota. [23]
The Times of India story paints a similar picture, noting that qualified institutional buyers tendered nearly 76.9 crore shares, with substantial contributions from mutual funds, FIIs and domestic institutions. [24]
Implication: with bids exceeding the offer size by more than 71 crore shares, acceptance ratios are likely to be low across all categories, particularly for investors who came in purely for the buyback trade. HDFC Sky explicitly cautions that acceptance percentages will be “substantially limited” given the scale of oversubscription. [25]
Jefferies and Street sentiment: largely positive after the buyback
Jefferies: ‘Buy’ rating, double‑digit upside
A fresh note from Jefferies, widely reported on Thursday, keeps Infosys firmly in the brokerage’s positive camp.
- Financial Express reports that Jefferies has reaffirmed a ‘Buy’ rating on Infosys and set a target price of ₹1,530, which the article frames as implying around 11% upside from recent levels. [26]
- The same piece outlines three broad pillars behind the call:
- Positioning in AI: Infosys sees itself well‑placed in the AI cycle, especially in banking and large enterprise clients, even though enterprise‑wide adoption is progressing slower than early hype suggested. [27]
- Stable demand with strong deal flow: The company describes the demand environment as steady rather than booming, with discretionary budgets still under pressure — but deal wins, particularly in BFSI, remain healthy, supporting the medium‑term pipeline. [28]
- Margins and free cash flow: Jefferies points to pricing, lower third‑party costs and productivity gains from GenAI as margin levers, noting management’s expectation that free cash flow will remain above 100% of net profit in FY26. [29]
In a separate live market blog, GoodReturns also notes that Jefferies has reiterated a ‘Buy’ on Infosys, quoting a higher target price of ₹1,700 in intraday commentary. [30]
The discrepancy between the ₹1,530 and ₹1,700 targets likely reflects different Jefferies updates being picked up by different outlets or slightly different base prices used to calculate upside. But the message is consistent: Jefferies remains structurally bullish on Infosys.
Broader analyst consensus
Beyond Jefferies:
- Trendlyne data shows an average target price of roughly ₹1,639, implying mid‑single‑digit upside from the current spot level, based on 31 reports from 11 analysts. [31]
- Livemint’s stock page notes that 43 analysts cover the stock, with 16 rating it “strong buy” and 12 on “buy”, versus just a couple of “sell” calls — reinforcing that Street sentiment is still skewed positive. [32]
Put together, today’s news flow keeps Infosys in the “core IT holding” bucket for many brokerages, while accepting that near‑term upside may be more measured now that the buyback premium is fully in the price.
Fundamentals: earnings momentum and an AI‑heavy roadmap
Q2 FY26: solid growth, cash‑rich balance sheet
Infosys’ latest reported quarter (Q2 FY26, July–September 2025) provides the fundamental backdrop for today’s buyback headlines:
- Net profit: up 13.2% year‑on‑year to ₹7,364 crore. [33]
- Revenue from operations:₹44,490 crore, an 8.6% YoY increase. [34]
- Operating margin: about 21%, marginally lower YoY but slightly higher sequentially. [35]
- Free cash flow: around ₹9,677 crore, translating to over 130% of net profit, underscoring why Infosys can sustain hefty buybacks and dividends. [36]
- Interim dividend:₹23 per share with a late‑October record date. [37]
Management commentary around Q2 emphasised an “AI‑first culture”, with CEO Salil Parekh highlighting that years of investment in reskilling and AI tools are now supporting both deal wins and productivity. [38]
Earlier guidance upgrades and deal wins
In January 2025, Infosys had already signalled improving conditions, raising its FY25 revenue growth guidance to 4.5–5% in constant currency, citing better discretionary spending from US and European clients. [39]
That guidance upgrade came alongside:
- Q3 FY25 net profit up 11.4% YoY to ₹6,806 crore. [40]
- Revenue growth of 7.6% YoY to ₹41,764 crore, and
- Large deal total contract value of $2.5 billion for the quarter. [41]
These numbers, plus the scale of the 2025 buyback, collectively signal a company still generating strong cash flows despite a patchy global IT demand cycle.
AI‑first GCC model and sector‑specific AI agents
Infosys has also been pushing a series of AI‑themed initiatives that feature prominently in analysts’ positive theses:
- On 17 November 2025, the company launched an “AI‑first GCC Model” designed to help enterprises set up and transform global capability centres into AI‑powered innovation hubs. The model weaves in assets like Infosys Agentic Foundry, EdgeVerve AI Next and Infosys Topaz to embed production‑grade “agentic AI” through the entire GCC lifecycle. [42]
- Earlier, on 6 November 2025, Infosys announced an AI agent for the energy sector, built on Topaz, Cobalt and Microsoft’s Azure/OpenAI stack, intended to automate reporting, generate predictive insights and support real‑time operational decisions. [43]
These moves reinforce Jefferies’ view that Infosys is positioning itself to benefit disproportionately as enterprise AI adoption moves from pilots to scaled deployments, even if that shift is slower than originally hoped. [44]
What today’s news means for Infosys investors
Key positives reinforced on 27 November
From an investor’s lens, the 27 November news flow strengthens a few core pillars of the Infosys story:
- Shareholder‑friendly capital allocation
- A ₹18,000‑crore buyback, on top of regular dividends, underscores management’s willingness to return surplus cash.
- Once completed, the buyback should reduce share count by roughly 2.4%, mechanically lifting earnings per share and return on equity, all else being equal. [45]
- Strong institutional validation
- Oversubscription of 826% with mutual funds, FIIs and other institutions tendering tens of crores of shares suggests that large investors actively traded the buyback opportunity — and also had sizable positions to begin with. [46]
- Resilient earnings and cash flows
- Double‑digit profit growth, healthy margins around 21%, and FCF consistently above net profit give Infosys room to keep funding AI investments while rewarding shareholders. [47]
- Strategic depth in AI and cloud
- The AI‑first GCC framework, Topaz Fabric stack and sector‑specific AI agents in energy and banking reinforce Infosys’ image as one of the better‑placed legacy IT firms to monetise GenAI and cloud‑driven transformation. [48]
- Street support
- Jefferies’ reaffirmed ‘Buy’ and double‑digit upside call, plus broadly positive consensus targets, signal that many analysts still see scope for moderate further gains, especially if global IT spending picks up into FY26–27. [49]
But there are trade‑offs and risks to keep in mind
- Low buyback acceptance, especially for arbitrage players
- With bids over 8x the offer size, a large chunk of tendered shares will be returned to investors’ demat accounts. That means many short‑term participants may be left holding stock purchased at higher levels, with the ₹1,800 buyback “floor” only partially realised. [50]
- Muted near‑term demand and slow AI monetisation
- Management commentary and Jefferies’ note both acknowledge that enterprise AI adoption is progressing slowly, and discretionary tech budgets remain under strain in some verticals. That can cap near‑term revenue growth and keep margins sensitive to pricing and wage cycles. [51]
- Valuation is reasonable, not distressed
- Trading around 22–23x trailing earnings with a solid near‑3% dividend yield and a modest discount to peer multiples, Infosys today looks more “fairly valued” than outright cheap. Future returns are likely to track how quickly growth accelerates from here. [52]
- Global macro and currency factors
- A large chunk of Infosys revenue is tied to US and European clients. Rate‑cut expectations, recession fears and currency swings (USD/INR hovering near 90) all feed into deal budgets and rupee‑translated earnings. [53]
How to think about Infosys now (not investment advice)
Nothing in today’s news flow dramatically changes the longer‑term narrative, but it does sharpen a few questions you might want to ask yourself:
- Time horizon: are you looking at Infosys as a multi‑year compounder in IT and AI, or as a short‑term trade around buyback and index levels?
- Risk tolerance: can you tolerate periods where revenue growth is mid‑single‑digit and the stock mostly moves sideways while earnings “catch up” to valuation?
- View on enterprise AI: do you believe Infosys’ AI‑first GCC model, Topaz Fabric and industry‑specific agents will turn into tangible high‑margin revenue over the next 2–3 years? [54]
- Portfolio fit: how does an export‑driven, large‑cap IT stock fit alongside the rest of your holdings, sector‑wise and geographically?
If you’re already a shareholder, today’s news mainly:
- Confirms that acceptance in the buyback will be limited,
- Signals that institutional appetite and analyst confidence remain intact, and
- Re‑emphasises that the real driver from here will be how fast global tech spending and AI‑related transformation ramps up.
If you’re on the sidelines, the risk–reward now hinges less on the buyback (which is effectively done) and more on your conviction in Infosys’ ability to convert its AI narrative and large‑deal pipeline into sustained double‑digit EPS growth over the next few years.
Either way, remember that this article is for information and education only, not personalised investment
References
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