Though HCL Technologies reported a good set of numbers during the July-September quarter, sequentially its revenue grew at a slower pace than that of its peers Infosys and TCS. President and CEO Anant Gupta told Kirtika Suneja that the company?s strategies are now focussed on the rebid and momentum markets. Edited excerpts:
With TCS and Infosys, too, posting good numbers, is there a change in strategy to get greater market share?
There is enough play in the market and we are focussed on our strategies. Our themes continue to be around the rebid market ? which is pegged around $48 billion ? due to its increasing value proposition. We will focus on integrated deals coming from the convergence of application and infrastructure deals. Moreover, transformation is an important piece in unlocking the capital in run-the-business (RTB) component, which is 15-20% of any engagement. Besides, there is an increasing relevance of disruptive technologies like cloud and mobility. For us, momentum markets are financial services and manufacturing while emerging momentum markets are public services and retail. The challenged markets are telecom and media.
What is the plan of action for the company?s BPO business, which is not growing as expected? What about inorganic growth?
We are very selective about it and focussing on it as vertical-based business services like financial services. There is still a long way to go and we will remain focussed on areas like cash management and mortgage services. However, we are not looking at acquisitions here as there are not many players in the market. We are delivering to large financial institutions and are not India-centric.
How healthy is the deal pipeline and which sectors are offering them?
We continue to see growth in pureplay infrastructure deals as it is an untapped market. Interestingly, our large customers are looking at support from emerging markets of Latin America, West Asia and Asean. The US and continental Europe continue to be strong. There is an increased component of IT outsourcing and disruptive technologies constitute 11-18% of these.
How attractive is the India market now?
We will participate in this market selectively as it is difficult to get desired margin profiles here. We are working on complex systems integration arrangements where we can build some IP and get market dominance in the short term.
How has the US shutdown impacted business?
The public services business is diverse for us and it ranges from healthcare to utilities to oil and gas and, hence, the impact is negligible.