Recent Indian firm of TCS

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the latest Indian IT service provider to announce financial results that suggest demand for outsourced IT services is becoming more predictable. For the final three months of its latest fiscal year TCS, India's biggest IT service provider, made $2.2bn of sales which was 33.2% higher than the same period last year and 4.7% higher than the previous quarter.

Profit was £531m in the quarter, which was 25.4% higher than the same period a year ago and 2.7% more than the preceding quarter. TCS's full-year results showed sales worth $8.2bn and a profit of $1.9bn. These were just over 29% and 31% higher than the previous year, respectively. TCS now employs just under 200,000 people.

Like HCL and Infosys before it, TCS's results display that demand is stabilising after recovering over the last year. TCS's key wins in the quarter (see below) show, like HCL and Infosys, that it won services contracts from customers looking to make their operations more efficient. Similarly to Infosys, TCS shows signs of customers spending on IT to transform business.

India-Pakistan peace match

Pakistan tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi has resumed calls for a peace match on the Indian border to foster reconciliation efforts between the two South Asian rivals. Qureshi, whose doubles pairing with Indian star Rohan Bopanna has been dubbed the "Indo-Pak Express", wrote to Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani calling for "tennis for peace."

The star's father Ihtesham told AFP that Aisam had made the request as a "unique effort to promote peace". Qureshi and Bopanna, currently 17th in the ATP world doubles rankings, made headlines around the world when they reached the final of last year's US Open. "They floated the idea after the US Open. We hope Pakistan will take the initiative," said Qureshi.

Unveiling the idea last year, the pair said they wanted a net strung across the Wagah border crossing, as part of a "Stop War Start Tennis" campaign. Qureshi last year said the International Tennis Federation and Peace and Sport, a charity run by Prince Albert of Monaco, supported the idea and had also written to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

India broke off diplomatic and sporting links after Islamist gunmen launched coordinated attacks on targets in Mumbai, killing 166 people in November 2008. India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the assault. But hopes are being revived that India and Pakistan could agree to resume direct sporting ties after the prime ministers of both countries watched the World Cup cricket semi-final between India and Pakistan two weeks ago in India.