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Cognizant Technology Solutions will award 100 percent bonus pay for 2025 after achieving what it calls the “Winner’s Circle”
Cognizant
IT services major Cognizant Technology Solutions will award 100 percent bonus pay for 2025 after achieving what it calls the “Winner’s Circle” — an internal benchmark for top-tier industry performance — two years earlier than planned, according to a report by Moneycontrol.com.
“Our 2025 results are the direct outcome of your hustle, disciplined execution, and commitment to our clients and to Cognizant. To recognize this effort, I am pleased to share that we have authorized funding our discretionary bonus program at 100 percent,” Chief Executive Officer Ravi Kumar S said in an internal email to employees accessed by Moneycontrol.
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Cognizant employs more than 350,000 people globally, with the majority based in India.
The Teaneck-headquartered firm uses the term “Winner’s Circle” to denote its move into the top tier of performance among global peers, measured across revenue growth, margins, and execution metrics. The company had earlier targeted reaching this milestone by 2027 but achieved it in 2025.
“Reaching the Winner’s Circle ahead of plan reflects the consistency in our execution and the progress we have made on growth and margins,” Kumar said during the post-earnings analyst call.
The development comes after Cognizant beat its fourth-quarter revenue guidance, an early signal that its billion-dollar artificial intelligence investments may be beginning to support growth, even as client spending remains cautious and near-term visibility stays limited.
The company has not yet disclosed details of the individual payout mechanism.
Peer comparison complicated by fiscal differences
Cognizant’s entry into the “Winner’s Circle” followed constant currency (CC) growth of 6.4 percent in calendar year 2025 — the highest among large IT services firms, as per Moneycontrol’s analysis.
However, comparisons across peers are indicative because Indian IT firms follow an April–March fiscal year, Cognizant reports on a calendar year basis, and Accenture follows a different fiscal cycle.
On a like-for-like comparison compiled by Moneycontrol, Accenture posted 6.25 percent growth, HCLTech 4.8 percent, Infosys 3.15 percent, and TCS 0.78 percent, while Wipro saw a decline of 1.83 percent.
How Cognizant defines ‘top-tier’ performance
In its earnings supplement, Cognizant said its inclusion in the Winner’s Circle is based on how its constant currency revenue growth ranked against a defined global peer group in 2025.
The company’s internal benchmarking shows a steady improvement in growth ranking — from 10th place in 2022 to eighth in 2023 and sixth in 2024.
During the same period, the gap between Cognizant’s growth and the peer average narrowed significantly, shifting from 8 percentage points below the peer average to 3 percentage points below, and finally to 0.5 percentage points above the peer average in 2025.
This performance enabled Cognizant to achieve what it calls “Top Tier” status in 2025, defined as being among the top four performers by revenue growth within its peer set.
The peer group includes Accenture, Capgemini, CGI Group, DXC, EPAM, Genpact, HCLTech, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, and Wipro.
The company clarified that this milestone reflects relative improvement versus peers rather than absolute growth alone.
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February 05, 2026, 08:55 IST
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