TCS and Infosys are set to announce their quarterly earnings later this week

Highlights Traditionally, September quarter is one of the better quarters

Slowdown in BFSI and healthcare segment to hurt IT firms earnings

Delay in project ramp-ups is also seen to hurt revenues

Domestic IT sector is likely to see its weakest September quarter in the past 8 years due to broad based slowdown in BFSI and healthcare as well as delays in projects across many clients, says a report.According to Kotak Institutional Equities, the largest IT players are expected to see revenue growth rate at 0.5-3 per cent during July-September quarter of 2016-17 compared to preceding quarter."Second quarter for the current fiscal will be the weakest September quarter for Indian IT in the past 8 years," the report said. "Growth will be impacted by broad based weakness in BFSI (Banking, Financial services and Insurance), weak healthcare and delays in projects across many clients."As per the report estimates, Infosys is expected to see the most revenue growth at 3 per cent followed by HCLT (2.6 per cent) TCS (2.4 per cent) and Wipro (0.5 per cent)."Infosys is our top pick in the sector while we like Tech Mahindra for inexpensive valuations. We are cautious on other names," it said.Further, Kotak has estimated cross currency headwind of 50-100 basis points for Indian IT corporates due to depreciation of British pounds partly offset by appreciation of JPY (Japanese yen), AUD (Australian dollar) and EUR (Euro) against USD (US Dollar)."Growth verticals will vary across players and will largely be an imprint of recent deals wins/wallet share gain," the report said.Traditionally, the July-September quarter is one of the better quarters for the $110-billion Indian IT sector, witnessing strong sequential revenue growth during the period."The seasonal strength that leads to strongest sequential growth in the September quarter is hardly expected to play out this time, as slowness in spending by the BFSI vertical weighs on the industry. In dollar terms, growth will be pegged back further by sharp depreciation of the GBP (pound) v/s the US dollar," Motilal Oswal said in a report.

Analysts are also of the view that the sector's growth in FY2017 will be constrained by a broad-based weakness in the BFSI vertical, elongated decision cycles given macro uncertainty and a weak pipeline of large deals and likely lower discretionary spending."We see FY17 to remain a challenging year both on growth and margins," Centrum said.