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Indian shares were set to open lower on Friday, as investor sentiment turned cautious after Accenture cut its revenue forecast and about 2.5% of its workforce, signalling a grim near-term outlook for the information technology sector alongside the global banking concerns.

India's NSE stock futures listed on the Singapore exchange were down 0.21% at 17,048 as of 8:27 a.m. IST. The broader Asian equity indexes were subdued.

In a week marking Credit Suisse's rescue and the U.S. Federal Reserve rate decision, the Nifty 50 has fallen 0.14% so far.

Wall Street equities rose overnight after investors took comfort that the Fed might pause its rate hikes.

The risk of contagion in global banking will continue to weigh on markets in the near term, according to analysts.

Adding to investors' concerns is Accenture Plc.'s downgrade of its annual revenue and profit forecast and a decision to cut 19,000 jobs. The development is a sign of a grim global economic outlook weighing on corporate spending on IT services.

Significant exposure to banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector in the West is already seen as a risk to the sector.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who snapped their nine-day selling streak on Wednesday, turned sellers again on Thursday, offloading 9.95 billion rupees ($121.05 million) of equities.

Stocks to Watch:

** Bharat Electronics: Ministry of Defence signs two contracts of 38 billion rupees with co, to supply medium power radar and digital radar warning services to the Indian Air Force.

** Rail Vikas Nigam: Co's joint venture receives LoA for a project worth 2.52 billion Rupees in Gujarat.

** IDFC, IDFC Bank: Co's shareholding in IDFC First Bank increases to 39.99%.

** Lupin: Co receives tentative approval from U.S. FDA for drug used in treatment of liver disease.

($1 = 82.1970 Indian rupees)