Infy eyes more big-ticket deals, peers' mkt share | Economic Times

Infosys, which has forecast double-digit growth this fiscal, aims to snag more big-ticket deals and deepen its focus on the fast-growing cloud, data and analytics business segments, while grabbing greater market share from rivals — both local and global — according to chief executive Salil Parekh. The software services giant is “absolutely focused” on ensuring that its employees are safe and working from home amid the virulent spread of Covid-19, Parekh told Ayan Pramanik & Raghu Krishnan in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. Pointing to the WFH protocol the $13.56-billion company had put in place at the start of the pandemic last year, Parekh said it has now launched a vaccination programme as well as Covid care facilities. Edited Excerpts:You had set a target of three years to transform Infosys and accelerate growth. What’s next on the agenda?Our basic focus has been around client relevance and a huge shift to digital that really underpins this. We’ve also done a lot of work on automation, reskilling and something a little bit softer, which is the One Infosys approach and what’s really right for clients. We have such a strong footprint across the cloud with (Infosys) Cobalt. The explosion of data has (led) clients to build more insights. We are scaling up quite nicely.You’ve advised employees to WFH. What’s the outlook for the next few months?This (pandemic) is growing quite rapidly within India. The attention is very much on making sure employees are working from home. We had worked that out extremely well last year in March and April. We’ve also started a vaccine programme (for over 45 years) within the company. We will expand it to all employees and immediate family with the new announcement (to vaccinate people over 18 years).We are also creating some Covid care sort of facility on one campus. In other places, we have a small medical capability. We are making sure we are providing support with testing, medicine etc. Everyone has understood that working from home is effective. So hopefully, that will be the way we work over the next several weeks or months. It’s a bit uncertain because we don't know the timing of these things. Everyone individually has to be extremely vigilant.Have you factored in a national lockdown?Almost all our employees are already working from home, so we have the ability to adjust to what the government (decides). We are in a good position to support our employees and continue to work with our clients. So, we’re factoring those things in at each of our main centres and making sure we are prepared as states, or sometimes even cities, make decisions.You have spoken of gaining market share, will it be from rivals or has the market itself expanded?Last year, we grew at 5% while most companies were at negative growth. So, it's definitely from other companies. (This) 5% is probably one of the largest in terms of growth in the last financial last quarter; it was 9.6% in the fourth quarter. We’re looking ahead at 12-14% growth and are definitely gaining market share from peers. The good news is, the overall pie is also expanding.Will you gain market share from Indian peers, companies such as IBM or DXC Technology, which is struggling?It's a combination. It's really all of the ones you are discussing, whether it's from Indian peers or international peers. Essentially, where we are focused is what clients are looking for.Deals such as Vanguard or Daimler have been gamechangers. Are there more in the pipeline?We have a good pipeline for this year. Last year, we did deals worth $14 billion. The year before, it was about $9 billion. We have a good trajectory and a good outlook because we're connecting well with clients.Rivals have been aggressive in M&As. What are Infosys’ plans on this front?In the last 12 months, we bought smaller companies, mainly on the cloud and in the digital space. We will continue to do that sort of acquisition. For more medium or larger deals, we will evaluate. Many things have to fall into place — the cultural fit, strategic fit, price, integration. We are open to do larger and smaller acquisitions.What plans do you have to stem attrition, which is at 15%?The company has always been focused on making sure employee engagement is very positive. It starts from the training that we provide, which is the best of any company, Indian or international. We rolled out a salary increase in January and will give another one in July. We put in place digital skill tags, which gives some specialised bonuses. We have different ways to reward people through our ESOP plans, across levels.Tech has been a beneficiary during the pandemic, while the outlook for the rest of the economy is uncertain. What is your view?We just have to see what the impact of this current (wave) will be, if it be a few weeks or a few months. But (with a) fundamental view, and with the economic approach laid out in the very strong, growth-oriented budget, my sense is the economy will recover. And it’ll be a good growth here. Of course, we now have to go through this phase and make sure we take all actions as individuals and as a country to get back. I think it is a situation which is being addressed with real, strong attention.Is there greater responsibility on tech leaders to address the disquiet that is also associated with technology’s (fast) growth?Without a doubt, I think technology as an industry has a much greater responsibility. Given whatever has happened over the last 12 months, the tech industry has done quite okay. So, there is a responsibility. (First) to all employees, while initially it was through safety, but now also how people are doing at a personal level while working from home for long periods. Also, there is a social element. What is the impact we have in a community because there’s a lot of secondary or tertiary impact. There is a huge ability to shape different lives and we partner with many companies for the broader community.