Just when the cheer was returning for the Indian IT industry, with most players reporting stellar numbers for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, US President Barack Obama?s anti-outsourcing statement spoiled the party to an extent. Tata Consultancy Services CEO & MD N Chandrasekaran told FE?s Surabhi Agarwal and Rachana Khanzode that though the company is keeping a close watch on the policy environment, it is upbeat about the demand situation. Excerpts:
What is in store for the next fiscal? How are clients? IT budgets expected to be?
Budgets are looking stable in most case, in some cases they are increasing and in some they are even dropping. But the general environment is good and it is increasingly getting better. The overall outlook is positive. As I said during the financial announcements, I am quite optimistic. But, we are still to do an analysis and arrive at a number, which says what will be the percentage increase in funds.
How many of your clients have already finalised their outlays for next year?
A majority of them have already decided.?From our point of view, it is positive. But, when I say from our point of view, it means that budgets may still remain the same, but the pie that we are addressing is increasing.
What kind of deals can we expect now?
It will be a mixed bag. We expect both large and small deals. We definitely see some large deals happening unlike last year, when they had mostly dried up. But there will be a number of smaller deals. In my opinion, all the discretionary projects that will come up will still be small in size.
Will recovery in financial services continue to drive growth?
Financial services will definitely drive the growth. Both insurance and banking are picking up. Other sectors like retail, healthcare, pharma and energy are also growing. Then there is manufacturing and telecom which are still lagging but they will subsequently pick up.
Have you finalised your hiring plans yet?
We have come very close to it. And we will be making some announcements soon.
How concerned are you with US President Barack Obama?s recent anti-outsourcing statements?
See, the regulatory changes with regard to employment and outsourcing in any part of the world, have to be watched. Whenever regulations changes, we have to see how we have to align with them. So, in that aspect, we have to be watching. We have a plan, which are following. We already have a delivery centre in the US and are on the path to hire more people there. So, nothing has changed and it is all on track. No changes in strategy as of now.