New Delhi, April 18 -- Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu said it's not the US President Donald Trump-imposed tariffs or the sudden uptick in Artificial Intelligence (AI) use responsible for the "cyclical downturn" of the Indian IT services companies, but their own inefficiencies.

This comes after Indian IT giants - Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro- reported disappointing earnings this quarter amid jitters in their key markets, signalling a potential hiring slowdown across the sector this year.

Vembu, reacting to the news of the companies' disappointing earnings, said his "operating thesis" says, "What we are seeing is not just a cyclical downturn, and it is not just AI-related. Even without the uncertainty induced by tariffs, there was...