Latest news with #VenugopalLambu
Time of India
15 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
AI-assisted coding is the way to go when hiring graduates: LTIMindtree CEO
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Hiring for freshers or entry-level graduates will have artificial intelligence or AI-assisted coding as part of the improvised assessment as the correlation between revenue and headcount growth becomes more de-linear, said chief executive officer (CEO) of the sixth-largest Indian IT company, LTIMindtree 'We are very optimistic about continuing our effort in inducting freshers. We added 1,600 freshers this quarter and we are going to add more throughout this year as well. AI-assisted coding is the way to go about it,' said Venugopal Lambu Lambu said there was more emphasis in terms of the learning ability, and the foundational skill sets that freshers have on which companies can build, using their training and learning methods.'So those assessments will always improvise it…Whenever we hire people, we take all those aspects, whether it is related to the coding roles, cloud roles or infrastructure roles or data roles,' he on freshers by building a pyramid-style organisation structure has been key for the over-$283-billion outsourcing industry's services delivery model. However, over the past more than a year, since AI took centre-stage entry-level jobs and hiring at technology firms was impacted with companies coding 20-25% via AI, reducing the need for junior-level human AI technology permeates across functions and solutions, Lambu believes there is a correlation or a non-linearity in the revenue growth and workforce addition.'Over the last few quarters, when we added revenue, the headcount has not necessarily increased. So, there is a correlation or a non-linearity, but it is too early to call out to what extent it will happen,' he added. LTIMindtree , formed with the merger of L&T Infotech and Mindtree in November 2022, last week reported a 5.2% year-on-year growth in the first quarter revenue of fiscal year 2026 at $1.15 billion. It was a 1.97% sequential rise boosted by healthy growth from Europe and its consumer or retail transitioned to take over the Mumbai-headquartered Larsen & Toubro (L&T) subsidiary's top seat on May 31, after induction into the firm in company announced its largest deal with a US-based client worth $450 million in the first quarter.'We are on the verge of signing a couple of deals, and one of them will actually beat our own record. That gives me the confidence that we will move towards the double-digit growth at some time in the second half of the year,' Lambu IT industry has been struggling with low single-digit to flat business growth over the past two years after more than two decades of strong double-digit revenue growth tariff-led macro uncertainties and the AI-backed efficiencies increase cost pressures, most software service providers are witnessing a demand contraction from top clients. This is lowering revenue contribution from large deals, a key vector for IT firms' growth.'Our contribution of top clients' revenue decreased because it has moved to the other categories. For example, we added two new $50 million-plus accounts on-year basis…The portfolio mix also is changing as we start building larger deals,' Lambu we are betting big on AI, Lambu said, AI will be net positive for both revenue and margin growth, which it expects to be closer to 16% in the next couple of quarters from 14.3% in the June quarter.
Business Recorder
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
India's LTIMindtree aiming for near double-digit revenue growth by end of FY26
BENGALURU: Indian IT services firm LTIMindtree is targeting near double-digit revenue growth by the end of fiscal 2026, its CEO said on Friday, a day after the company posted a narrow miss on first-quarter revenue. 'If we can hit a run rate which brings us nearer to the double digit of year-on-year growth … (FY26) will definitely end up becoming better than FY25,' CEO Venugopal Lambu told Reuters. Nachiket Deshpande, President of LTIMindtree, told analysts on Friday that after the formation of a global large deal team, the company is winning more deals and adding to the pipeline. 'We're seeing the (deal) momentum continue at least in the next few quarters,' Deshpande said. On Thursday, the firm reported first quarter consolidated revenue of 98.41 billion rupees ($1.14 billion), missing estimates marginally as cautious spending by clients slowed growth in its key North America market to the lowest in over a year. Stubborn inflation, subdued demand, and uncertainty around U.S. trade policies are prompting clients to delay discretionary tech spending, clouding prospects of a recovery in India's $283 billion IT sector. The company's operating margin in the first quarter contracted by 70 basis points on-year, but expanded 50 basis points sequentially. Lambu on Friday said the company was also aiming to expand its operating margins by 100 basis points by the end of fiscal 2026. LTIMindtree's shares fell as much as 2.4% on Friday before closing 1.36% lower.
Mint
24-04-2025
- Business
- Mint
LTIMindtree: New year, new plan – but will it work?
For LTIMindtree Ltd, FY25 was a challenging year. Delayed deal execution and client-specific challenges were a drag on revenues in the second half of the year. But things are set to improve in FY26, backed by CEO-designate Venugopal Lambu's three strategic initiatives. These are improving overall sales effectiveness and addressing client expectations; revamping large deal strategy to focus on multi-service, multi-delivery, and multi-geography models; and driving agility by optimising costs. New initiatives are expected to yield results from Q1FY26. The management expects Q1 to be a growth quarter with sequential margin improvement. In Q4FY25, sequential constant currency (CC) revenue slid 0.6% due to a sharp decline in the healthcare vertical, below consensus estimate of 0.3% growth. Ebit margin was flat sequentially at 13.8% as headwinds from employee costs were offset by lower other expenses. Simply put, the new plan aims to maximize revenues and improve profitability. But a turbulent global backdrop may complicate the expected progress. Note that LTIMindtree fetches a large part of revenue from North America, where growth may be hit by reduced discretionary IT spending and slower contract renewals amid tariff-led ambiguity. Also Read: Big Four of Indian IT lose market share; HCL Tech's outlook offers little relief 'We believe the new management has their task cut out, and the added macro uncertainty pushes back the prospect of a double-digit growth rate as well as normalized Ebit margins beyond FY27," said Motilal Oswal Financial Service report on 23 April. Further, the management has not provided a tighter guidance range or timeline, which makes the margin expansion trajectory a tad vague, added the report. True, order inflows provide growth visibility for FY26 to some extent. Order inflow in FY25 was robust at $6 billion, this was driven by a shift from discretionary projects to long-term, efficiency-focused deals. Q4FY25 alone saw new orders worth $1.6 billion, marking a second consecutive quarter of above $1.5 billion. Also Read: Attrition costs are catching up with IT companies Some large deals are in the pipeline in the retail segment which LTIMindtree expects to close in Q1FY26. The management is optimistic about the order book in FY26 being higher than FY25. Still, the problem is that akin to previous quarters, deals into revenue conversion could be slow due to macroeconomic uncertainties. Plus, clients would remain focused on cost savings, vendor consolidation, and AI-led modernization. LTIMindtree's shares have declined 4% in the past one year and trade at a FY26 price-to-earnings multiple of 26x, a premium to tier-1 peers. This valuation limits upside potential unless the new strategy gives impressive results. Also Read: IT stocks plunge as analysts have doubts about a growth rebound
