BENGALURU, Oct 13 Reuters Shares of Infosys, India39;s No. 2 IT services provider, fell as much as 4.5 on Friday after a cut to the upper end of the company39;s annual revenue forecast fanned further worries of a delay in demand recovery in the sector.

The Bengalurubased company39;s stock trimmed some losses to trade down 3, but still weighed on the Nifty IT index which fell 0.7, adding to a sharp 1.6 drop in the previous session.

Several analysts said the IT company39;s move to cut outlook for the second straight quarter was emblematic of nearterm challenges for the 245billion sector, with clients cutting discretionary spending after a pandemic boom. They do not see demand for IT services companies returning anytime soon.

Conversion of existing orders into revenue is a problem for all IT companies since clients are delaying the execution of these orders, said Avinnash Gorakshakar, head of research at Profitmart Securities.

U.S. and Europe are still not in a healthy shape, new order wins and their execution is not expected in the 68 months.

Larger rival TCS, which does not provide revenue outlook, missed secondquarter revenue estimates earlier this week, while HCLTech cut its revenue forecast. Wipro is due to report results next Wednesday.

Infosys continues to grapple with unplanned rampdowns and longer sales cycles for large deals. We expect this environment to continue throughout fiscal 2024, analysts at U.S.based investment banking services company William…