New Delhi, Aug. 25 -- Indian IT companies are exploring an unusual route for growth: buying the technology businesses of clients and, around the same time, winning large outsourcing contracts from them.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) is the latest to use the playbook. On 24 August, it announced acquiring Porsche's Germany-based management and IT consulting arm MHP for $373 million, while the carmaker has awarded TCS a five-year IT modernization contract worth $1.45 billion-its second mega-deal in less than eight months.

At least nine such transactions have taken place over the past two decades, including three in the past 12 months, involving TCS, Infosys Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd (HCLTech), Wipro Ltd and WNS. The recent spurt come...