New Delhi, Oct. 15 -- When Infosys Ltd bagged its first mega deal in two years, it wasn't just a blockbuster announcement coming 48 hours before its Q2 results. It was a clear signal that India's second-largest IT services company was closing in on Nasdaq-listed Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, a larger peer.

Let's do the math: at the end of the last fiscal, the revenue difference between the two was $459 million. Cognizant follows the January-December calendar, whereas homegrown IT companies follow April-March. By the end of the April-June quarter, the gap narrowed to $304 million. With the new $1.6 billion, 15-year NHS contract, Infosys could reduce the difference by another $107 million-unless Cognizant surprises with its own big ...