TCS (down 3.7%), HCL Technologies (down 3.13%), Wipro (down 2.2%), Infosys (down 1.92%), Mahindra Satyam (down 1.9%), MphasiS (down 1.2%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.72%) and Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.48%), edged lower.

The BSE IT index was down 2.46% at 5,569.32. It underperformed the Sensex, which was down 0.58% at 16,814.85.

The BSE IT index had underperformed the market over the past one month until 7 May 2012, falling 6.50% compared with the Sensex's 3.28% fall. The index had, however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 3.20% as against 4.03% fall in the Sensex.

Cognizant Technology Solutions stunned the markets by lowering its 2012 revenue guidance by 300 basis points (bps) to 20% at $7.34 billion from an earlier 23%, citing drop in demand for its services, and pointing to a lack of improvement in discretionary spending.

"Due to a slower than anticipated acceleration in demand as we entered the second quarter, we are adopting a more conservative stance for the remainder of the year and revising our guidance to at least 20% revenue growth for 2012," said Francisco D'Souza, Chief Executive Officer of Cognizant.

According to reports, uncertainty in the US and Europe, leading to slow ramp-ups or delays in signing of deals across the IT sector, is behind the slashing of growth guidance.

While meeting its first quarter revenue growth, with a 3% rise to $1.71 billion, Cognizant's revenues rose by 24.8% sequentially. Year-on-year, net profit was up 17% at $243.7 million, compared with $208.3 million in 2011.