Ashok Vemuri is a fast rising star at Infosys Technologies, rated by many as the best among the software major?s next generation leaders. A member of the executive council at Infosys, Vemuri is the head of its crucial banking, financial services and insurance vertical (BFSI) and its North American operations. Some analysts say that Vemuri could even go on to become Infosys?s CEO at some stage, considering his performance so far. Although the last quarter of the previous fiscal saw typically flat growth, Vemuri tells Shreya Roy that he is confident about a strong performance going forward.

Your US business grew at roughly 25% YoY. Quarter-on-quarter, however, growth was flat. What are you expecting in the coming quarters, and which sectors do you see growth coming from?

Financial services is doing very well for us in the US and we are seeing good traction in retail. Manufacturing seems to have made a comeback. It is growing at 24% as a vertical and the US growth rate is around the same. Energy and utility will definitely show good results. We believe that certain regulatory and structural changes that are happening in the telecom sector will lead to a better performance there. Quarter-on-quarter, growth was typically flat and we don?t ascribe much to that. Currently, the US contributes to 63% of our total business and it is a big part of our plans.

When you say that the US is a big part of your plans, what are you envisioning the business to grow into?

What we really want to do is move up the value chain and get into diverse verticals. For instance, we entered energy and media in a big way. There are several verticals, such as healthcare, that we are yet to aggressively explore and our competitors have done very well in. Federal government business is another of those. We want to be in a place where we can say that the American market is as much home to us as India is. We will acquire talent there, invest heavily and participate more in society and community.

What are your hiring plans for the region?

We will be hiring aggressively in the US. We already have 15,000 people working there, and are looking at lateral hiring and acquiring more local talent. It is difficult to give a concrete number but we are looking at hiring consultants, technology and vertical experts.

When you hire in the US and visit campuses, what is the level of brand recognition you find?

I remember going to campuses 14 years ago when nobody came to us because obviously nobody knew who we were but we have a significantly strong brand now. We are obviously overshadowed by brands such as GE but are very well-recognised in the consulting space as well as at the university level. We are liked for our corporate governance and for the way we treat our employees.

You mentioned healthcare. Across the industry, healthcare is being seen as a major driver. What are your plans for the sector?

The US market is the largest market for healthcare and, for now, we plan to pursue healthcare in the US and are fairly aggressive about it. It has not necessarily been an area of strength for us. We have not had much focus there but are looking at it as a growth-engine now. We are building some specific point solutions for the industry, hiring people from healthcare, building a back-end talent on specific healthcare technologies and talking to more players in the sector. We are gaining some experience through increased transactions. Right now, the contribution of healthcare to our total business is quite small but this is something we can build over a period of time.

BFSI is the largest contributor for Infosys. How do you see that growing further?

The guidance that we have given reflects our expectations of the sector to a great extent. As far as the growth expected in BFSI goes, we don?t break it down into verticals but it is fair to say that the growth of the segment, which is close to 36% of the total business, will be a significant component in the company?s growth as a whole.

Earlier this year, Infosys had said that it will look at acquiring small government IT contractors to tap into the government outsourcing space in the US. How is that hunt going?

Given that services for the central government is a fairly new business, we are going to be more enthused about acquiring something there because we don?t have the skill set. At the same time, we are a lot more cautious. As of now, it is too early to really talk about it. But it is not just the government sector, we evaluate companies across the spectrum practically every month. We are looking at multiple options. The strategy is to continue to look for acquisitions that will add value.