TCS had a lacklustre start to the year putting a lid on its double-digit growth target this fiscal. Its new CEO and MD K Krithivasan is positive about a strong order book, a reflection of long-term demand cycle . Excerpts from a chat with TOI:
TCS’s management sees a double-digit growth as a tall order. The $10 billion order book compensates for low near-term visibility
The strong order book is positive compared to the corresponding period last year and we have seen a significant increase for North America and the banking and financial services sector. What this tells us is the long-term demand is resilient,even though there could be a slowdown because of uncertainties in the short-term. But over a period, growth should return, and enterprises will have to spend on technology.
BFSI continues to see more headwinds with a tepid growth of 3%
The UK was good on the BFSI side, but we experienced a slowdown in Europe and North America. Some of the projects were winding up and one of our large clients got acquired and that had an issue. Once that uncertainty is lifted, there are certain industries where the opportunities are immediate.
TCS HR head recently said women’s attrition has been higher than men’s. . .
We have more than 200,000 women engineers at TCS. He (Milind Lakkad CHRO) called out that point for starting a discussion around that topic. The difference in attrition between the general population and women is only about 0. 6% on an annual basis. The missing women in TCS are completely exaggerated. The gap over the years has been 1. 5%, but it has nothing specific to do with the pandemic.
TCS has over 100 genAI projects in the pipeline. In the medium-term, would it lead to shrinking your hiring targets?
Our hope is we will do much more work with genAI and it will have less impact on the number of people we employ. We may not see a shrinkage in the overall workforce. We are going to train 100,000 associates in genAI. They will be more valuable to themselves, to the organisation and clients.
TCS’s management sees a double-digit growth as a tall order. The $10 billion order book compensates for low near-term visibility
The strong order book is positive compared to the corresponding period last year and we have seen a significant increase for North America and the banking and financial services sector. What this tells us is the long-term demand is resilient,even though there could be a slowdown because of uncertainties in the short-term. But over a period, growth should return, and enterprises will have to spend on technology.
BFSI continues to see more headwinds with a tepid growth of 3%
The UK was good on the BFSI side, but we experienced a slowdown in Europe and North America. Some of the projects were winding up and one of our large clients got acquired and that had an issue. Once that uncertainty is lifted, there are certain industries where the opportunities are immediate.
TCS HR head recently said women’s attrition has been higher than men’s. . .
We have more than 200,000 women engineers at TCS. He (Milind Lakkad CHRO) called out that point for starting a discussion around that topic. The difference in attrition between the general population and women is only about 0. 6% on an annual basis. The missing women in TCS are completely exaggerated. The gap over the years has been 1. 5%, but it has nothing specific to do with the pandemic.
TCS has over 100 genAI projects in the pipeline. In the medium-term, would it lead to shrinking your hiring targets?
Our hope is we will do much more work with genAI and it will have less impact on the number of people we employ. We may not see a shrinkage in the overall workforce. We are going to train 100,000 associates in genAI. They will be more valuable to themselves, to the organisation and clients.
