BENGALURU: Indian IT industry is riding high on digital transformation wave with clients willing to spend more on building agile, resilient businesses. However, in a post-Covid world, would the client spending on digital services, products reduce that may burst the growing digital bubble? L&T Technology Services (LTTS) CEO and MD Amit Chadha told The New Indian Express in an interaction that he doesn’t see the demand slackening in at least next 24-36 months.
Chadha, who took over as the CEO & MD at the LTTS in April 2021, observed that in the technology industry, the next wave of innovation always replaces the earlier one and same holds true for the current digital transformation trend. “At the beginning of the pandemic, we saw more demand for digital services, which is slightly shifting towards digital products and digital manufacturing. The next demand may come from AI for digital products.” he added. In fact, the demand for digital products, services has given birth to war of talent amongst the technology industry leaders with recruitments and attritions peaking simultaneously through past several quarters.
LTTS is aiming to hire 1400-1600 engineering graduates this financial year (FY22) amidst soaring demand for engineering, research and (ER&D) services across its various client geographies including the US, Europe and Japan. Chadha said that the company had paused its hiring during CY2020, but is well on its trajectory to hire graduates from India. He added that the company on an average has hired 400 freshers during Q1, FY22 and will onboard another 200 B-Tech, M-Tech engineering graduates during Q2( July-September). “We will be able to take students, STEM graduates who are more poised towards technology than the services,” Chaddha said
In terms of the deal wins the company has closed two major deals in the electric autonomous & connected vehicle (EACV) segment worth 45 million. The LTTS CEO said that in the current quarter, there is continued traction from the clients in the EACV segments besides digital manufacturing and 5G. US, which accounts for a major share of the company’s revenues , as per the top executive, is back to pre-Covid levels even as India business was hit by the second wave.
The rising attritions are a concern, according to Chadha, who said that the industry may continue to see employee exits in a few quarters after which it will subside. The engineering firm’s attrition peaked to 14.5% during Q1, FY21 compared to just 10% last year. “I, of course, feel bad when an employee leaves the firm and think that maybe we haven’t been able to keep up with their morale. However, we have continued our employee engagement initiatives and are hopeful of their retention,” Chadha noted.