Cognizant, Satyam, Patni, TCS, Infosys, HCL and Wipro were among the ten fastest-growing IT services vendors in the top 50 rankings last year, besides those focused on the lucrative U.S. central government and defense sector, according to new research by independent market analyst, Datamonitor.

India’s big IT services companies also ranked as the most profitable suppliers in the top 50 rankings in terms of both net and operating profit margin. This is due to lower salary costs in India, which can be as much as 50% lower for some skills over comparable rates in the U.S.A. Infosys was the most profitable supplier in terms of net profit margin with 26% in its most recent fiscal year.

The research found that the world’s 50 largest IT-services vendors booked combined revenues of $262 billion last year, but grew at a slower rate than the overall market. Conducted annually, results from Datamonitor’s research “Global IT Services Top 50 Rankings,” add weight to the belief of many industry watchers that some of the sector’s larger players are losing out to smaller, more focused vendors.

The vendors, which ranged from IBM Global Services with sales of $47 billion to Patni Computer Systems with $450 million, increased their combined sales by 1.9% per cent over the previous year. But this is well below the 8% growth in the overall market for external IT services expenditure recorded by Datamonitor.