LTIMindtree, the sixth largest IT services company, recently launched its Cyber Defense Resiliency Centre (CDRC) in Bengaluru. With this centre, the company will create cybersecurity solutions that help the clients build resilient enterprises, and will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automate and improve security operations. In an interaction with Uma Kannan of TNIE, Nachiket Deshpande, whole-time director and COO at LTIMindtree, said the company will continue its focus on security, AI and that it targets $10 billion revenue by FY32. Edited excerpts:
LTIMindtree has set a $10 billion revenue target by FY32 from its present $4.3 billion. Will you be looking at inorganic growth as well?
Acquisition cannot be part of the strategy as growth ambitions cannot depend on it, because it may or may not happen. And there are so many things that have to fall in place. You have to find the right target and valuation. It is not enough for us to say we want to do acquisition. So the way we are looking at it is, we aspire to have a double digit growth.
With 10-11% CAGR, by FY32 we will be able to achieve $10 billion in revenue, and that’s what we are planning for. Now, if we end up doing sizable acquisition somewhere in the middle, it might accelerate. We will continue to do some small acquisitions, which are capability gaps or new markets or new customers, but they will not have a meaningful impact to the revenue, but they will be important and needed for that 10% CAGR.
Tell us about your deal pipelines and are you seeing any macroeconomic headwinds?
Our deal pipelines are pretty robust, including large deals. Many deals are scheduled to close and we are looking forward to it. Macroenvironment is better now compared to the beginning of 2024. The US elections are over, but a lot of people are speculating about things (in terms of tariff and how the US will act on it) that could happen on January 20. So such things may have a material impact on the business, but otherwise, inflation, interest rate, consumption and employment, all those macroeconomic indicators are better. For us, the US is a dominant market. This calendar year 2025 looks better than 2024.
Many IT companies are now focusing on the Indian market as well. Are you seeing any opportunities here in India?
We continue to work in the India market, but we are very selective about the work we do. We are also part of the L & T Group and there are certain government projects that we participate in. We do work with certain government agencies, and we continue to do so. But we have decided to focus on a few key areas. About 70-80% of work in India is in the data analytics space. That’s where we believe we have good differentiation and hence, we are able to monetise that better.
How will the new AI-driven Cyber Defense Resilience Centre help your clients?
This centre is our biggest and modern CDRC. It has technology and processes to monitor clients’ environment, quickly isolate the attack surfaces that get impacted & remediated, and actively hunt the threat. AI is embedded in the solutions, so it is able to quickly isolate the specific incidents and also is able to remediate.
The security approach also has changed in the last few years. It’s no longer about building bigger walls, but it is about expecting that you will get breached. As the attacks in terms of volumes have gone up for all enterprises, the level of sophistication in their attack has gone up. You can’t do simple automation, AI solutions are required to automate and improve security operations, and that’s what CDRC focuses on.