Audit shadows BluSmart's books; Zomato leadership rejig

Time of India

24-04-2025

Audit shadows BluSmart's books; Zomato leadership rejig
Also in the letter:
BluSmart faces forensic audit amid Gensol crisis; investor payments in jeopardy
Getting into action:
Massive burn:
Worried investors:
Read ETtech's in-depth coverage of the Gensol-BluSmart crisis:
Zomato food delivery CEO steps down; Deepinder Goyal to take charge
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Backdrop:
Also Read:
What's next:
Why it matters:
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IT firms may need to up hiring to retain edge as GCCs come fishing
Numberwise:
GCC growth has pushed IT services attrition to 16%. Greenfield GCCs hired 110,000 people in 2024, up from 60,000 in 2023, with over half coming from IT firms, according to data from Xpheno.
GCCs hired nearly ten times more talent than Indian IT majors in 2024-25, driving 20-25% lateral movement, said Quess. About 40% of IT companies are now adopting remote and hybrid models to access talent in tier-2 cities and overseas, TeamLease said.
Experts take:
'IT services firms have no choice but to refill these attrited resources because they are billable and directly impact revenues,' said Kamal Karanth, cofounder of Xpheno.
This explains why TCS plans to hire 40,000 freshers this fiscal year and Infosys 20,000. Experts added that both companies are aiming to reduce subcontractor costs, which have already fallen by 11% over the past eight quarters.
HCLTech will increase fresher hiring in FY26, aiming to recruit 2,000–3,000 candidates each quarter, said chief people officer Ramachandran Sundararajan. The company hired 7,000 freshers in FY25.
Tell me more:
GCCs are attracting top talent with better pay and faster career growth, said Karthikeyan K, director – permanent recruitment at Adecco. Over 30% of exits from large IT firms are to GCCs, where the cost of an unfilled seat is 40% higher.
Junior and mid-level professionals receive quicker salary increases when they move to GCCs. 'The average tech salary has crossed Rs 18 lakh per annum, with GCCs offering 10-15% higher pay for senior roles,' he added.
Also Read:
Donald Trump's big varsity shake up opens doors for Indian edtech companies
Partnership opportunities:
Why now:
Moving away from the US:
US universities are expected to attract more international students, who are key revenue contributors—potentially benefiting study-abroad startups.
However, an executive said studying abroad, especially in the US, has become difficult for Indian students due to rising tuition fees, visa uncertainties, and the weakening rupee against the dollar.
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Global Picks We Are Reading
Happy Thursday! BluSmart's board has engaged consultancy firm Grant Thorntonto conduct a forensic audit of the ride-hailing startup's financials. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch.■ GCCs trigger talent shift■ Indian edtech's Trump bet■ PixelSky's first closeWith associate entity Gensol under regulatory scrutiny, BluSmart, the ride-hailing startup, is also coming under the scanner. Sources tell us that the company's board has initiated a forensic audit to be conducted by consultancy firm Grant Thornton.The audit will investigate whether funds were diverted from the company to Gensol Engineering, the solar consulting firm under Sebi's scrutiny. Last year, BluSmart's management informed investors that it had around Rs 400 to 500 crore in cash reserves. However, sources told us that the company ran out of funds just months later.BluSmart's financial troubles have deepened, with debt mounting and business growth stagnating. The company posted losses of Rs 470 crore in FY24 and is burning up to Rs 50 crore each month in FY25, people in the know told us. While its revenues grew by about 58% between FY23 and FY24, losses more than doubled over the same period.The crisis at Gensol has now spilled over to BluSmart, the group's ride-hailing venture. Investors fear the ongoing forensic audit could jeopardise repayments due in the coming months. If fund diversion from BluSmart is confirmed, it could trigger a painful liquidation or legal proceedings — putting many individual investors at risk of losing their principal.Deepinder Goyal, CEO, ZomatoIn a major top-deck reshuffle at Zomato's parent entity Eternal, the company's chief executive of food delivery Rakesh Ranjan is stepping down from his role Eternal CEO Deepinder Goyal will be assuming Ranjan's responsibilities while the company scouts for a full-time replacement. Sources told ETtech both internal and external candidates are being considered.The move comes as Zomato battles a slowdown in its mainline food delivery business, even during the festive-heavy December quarter. Its rival Swiggy caught up on market share, riding the 10-minute delivery wave.The company is scouting for a full-time replacement, with both internal and external candidates under consideration. For now, Ranjan will continue with the company in a different role.Food delivery is Zomato's biggest revenue engine—and the leadership reset underscores the pressure to maintain growth in a cooling demand environment.Despite the uncertain economic environment, IT services firms may need to step up hiring in the long term to prevent talent from shifting to global capability centres (GCCs), experts said.As the Donald Trump administration slashes billions of dollars of federal funding for US universities, Indian edtech platforms—particularly those focused on higher education and study abroad—are reassessing how this shift could bolster their businesses , founders and executives told ET.'We are starting to see greater interest from our university partners. They're looking for ways to manage the funding crunch they're facing,' said Ashwin Damera, founder and chief executive of Eruditus. He added, 'Universities will launch more courses with us. They need to find more ways to generate revenue.'The Trump administration has already taken action against seven universities, including Brown, Cornell, Harvard and Columbia, by either cutting funding or issuing warnings about potential cuts. This follows Trump's allegation that some top universities have become hubs of antisemitism and political indoctrination.Hitesh Ahuja, managing partner, PixelSky CapitalPixelSky Capital, a secondary-focused fund set up by IndigoEdge and entrepreneur Hitesh Ahuja, has launched its debut investment vehicle with a target corpus of Rs 400 crore to back late-stage tech and consumer companies, according to sources.Bengaluru-based Sarvam AI, along with Soket AI Labs, Gnani.ai, and Gan.ai, is likely among the first companies selected by the IT ministry to receive incentives under the Rs 10,000-crore IndiaAI Mission, aimed at developing frontier AI models, sources said.Promoters and early investors in Ather Energy are poised for substantial gains as the electric two-wheeler maker gears up for its initial public offering (IPO) later this month.LTIMindtree, the IT services arm of the L&T Group, reported a modest 2.5% year-on-year increase in Q4 net profit to Rs 1,129 crore, with forex gains partially cushioning other operational pressures.■ China has an army of robots on its side in the tariff war ( The New York Times ■ What would a US tariff on chips look like? ( FT ■ Nvidia thinks it has a better way of building AI agents ( WSJ