New Delhi, May 5 -- Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp has become the third largest Indian heritage IT services firm - after Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd - to dial back shareholder payouts as it redirects capital towards acquisitions and AI capability building.

Nasdaq-listed Cognizant, which follows a January-December financial calendar as against Indian IT's April-March year, returned $1.99 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases last year.

This year, the company is set to return less.

"This year again, $2.5 billion (in free cash flow), we have committed $1.6 billion to be returned to the shareholder, $1 billion by share buyback and $600 million odd in dividends, of which we have now ...