Questions across 66 calls

Vibhor Singhal

Nuvama Equities

Firstsource Solutions Limited

Firstsource Solutions Limited CC-Jun24.pdf · 2024-07-30

So, it is basically two questions from. My side, lots of strengths in the results in this quarter. So, I think the only pocket of weakness which we could find was possibly the CMT vertical. So, as you had alluded last quarter as well, I think this quarter this vertical will see the weakness because of the onsite to offshore shift for the top client. So, what is the outlook on that client and the vertical. Is the onsite to offshore shifts that you were expecting is it complete or is it going to come in the next couple of quarters? And taking that along with what will be the kind of growth rate that we are expecting or let ’s say what the growth outlook for this segment for FY25 on an overall basis?

Second question is on the Healthcare vertical. Of course, this quarter saw a very sharp jump in revenues because of QBSS as well as of course the ramp up of deals. So, again, in this front, is the initial ramp-up of most of these deals complete and hereafter we could expect a normalized run rate, or do you believe there could be some sharp volatility in the revenue run rate in this vertical going forward? On an overall basis, just wanted to cross verify that we would expect Healthcare vertical to grow above the Company average for FY25?

Firstsource Solutions Limited CC-Mar24.pdf · 2024-05-03

Ritesh two questions from my side . In your long-term guidance in your basically, the mid to long term guidance that you have given in terms of $1 billion exit rate by FY26, just wanted to harp upon what is the kind of assumption that you are building upon while giving this guidance. So, is it basically just driven by the company level deal wins and the execution that you expect or is there also a bit of an element of favorable macro that comes into play, either on the mortgage si de or on the healthcare side or any other businesses that you might be working in?

Got it, that was very helpful. And since you touched upon the employee addition, in this quarter the employee addition through the entire year of course has been very strong for us. How do you see that going forward, we have got a very good guidance for next year in terms of the revenue growth that we are expecting, do you believe these are similar run rate of net headcount addition might continue or given by what we are targeting the growth that we are expecting the headcount addition might accelerate?

Cyient Limited

Cyient Limited CC-Jun24.pdf · 2024-07-25

Sir, my question was on the margins. Now I understand that on the revenue growth part, if the growth is not in this quarter, our entire full year guidance gets shifted by let us say, couple of quarters and that is why we are cutting the guidance. But missing margins in this quarter would have been because as you mentioned, some of the projects were deferred, they were not b illed, you had employees who were not being billed and that is why the drop in the margins and if you are expecting those projects to recover in Q2, why the deferment of guidance for margins. If we have already reduced the headcount in this quarter , quarter 2 and H2 should be strong and it should be growth in the quarters again. So the projects which were deferred, they should start billing again and the employee utilization and all those things should pick up and hence your margins, I understand maybe a bit here and there, but reaching the 15% margins by the end of Q4 seems a bit, I am not able to reconcile the math. Will you please help me understand this?

So the wage hike , investment in technology would have been part of our business plan, which we drew at the beginning of the year when we gave the guidance for the fully flat year margins for the full year. That doesn't change the math, right that is basically prevents status quo as it was 3 or 4 months ago?

Cyient Limited CC-Dec23.pdf · 2024-01-25

Thanks for taking my question, and congrats on a solid performance in a very weak environment. So Karthik, two questions from my side. One is on our performance and one is on the overall segment-specific, per se, that is aero. We have recently heard multiple media news and articles about the mid-air accident with Boeing and a lot of safety precautions and norms are now being basically strengthened for the industry per se. How do you think that impacts us and also the industry? I know maybe the client might not be that big of a client for us. But does it in any way impact the aerospace industry as a whole and in terms of could alter the direction or maybe make some impact on that direction of the spend that the industry might be looking at to maybe focus on more on safety issues and those kinds of things. And my second question was on the company per se. We've downgraded our guidance to 13% to 13.5% this quarter. But if I were to ask, let's say, from the beginning of the year till now, in the last nine months, which exactly were the pockets that led to maybe a miss in the revenue vis-à-vis our expectations when we started the year.

Got it, got it. Thank you so much for that comprehensive explanation. But if I could just have a couple of follow -ups of each of my two questions. So the first part that you mentioned that maybe that would lead to more incremental spend, but on the other hand, do you believe that there could be a case in which these manufacturers could actually start more in -sourcing that they don't want to. I know they haven't named any vendor per se because of which -- or blame any vendor for the mishap or the incident. But do you think this might trigger a kind of a wave of in-sourcing amongst these -- in these manufacturers that they now want to do all the things themselves and not rely on third-party vendors like us or global vendors as well? And to the second question again, in terms of - you mentioned that healthcare and telecom was where we missed . How is the auto segment looking like? Was degrowth in the auto segment, which is part of the NGA, of course, in line with our expectations? And do you expect us to continue making inroads in that segment?

Coforge Limited

Coforge Limited CC-Jun24.pdf · 2024-07-23

Thanks for taking my question and congrats Sud hir and Saurabh for a solid quarter. So, Sud hir two questions from my side. I mean, last year we did phenomenally well in terms of the overall revenue growth rate. Despite the fact, I think we face challenges in the top clients in almost all our verticals, be it travel, banking, insurance. What is the outlook on the top clients in those specific verticals for this year? You did mention that of course, this quarter the banking sector saw some bit of a normalization, but how is the pickup in those specific lines in the insurance, the top two travel accounts and of course banking as well, do we expect them to have bottomed out and pick up the growth momentum and hence the growth to be driven in the next few quarters by the top five and the top ten accounts or do you think it is going to take some time to basically pick up momentum given where they are at this point of time? And then I have a second question.

Got it, got it. Secondly if I can just pick up your brain on the travel vertical. Banking of course you have mentioned and I think a lot of the other players in the industry are also commenting on pick up in used BFS. But how is the travel segment looking like because I think after the initial, let us say, pick up in spending post-COVID, most of the travel clients had kind of held back their tech spends because they were getting organic growth any which ways because of the surge in travel across the world. Has that spend revived? Are we looking at some peak closures in near future? And how do you see it this vertical panning over out given it did not do exceptionally well last year? How do you see it doing this year.

Infosys Limited

Updates Infosys Limited has informed the Exchange regarding 'Earnings Call Transcript'. · 2024-07-18

Hi. Good evening. Thanks for taking my question and congrats on a very solid start to the financial year. Salil, two questions from my side. One is we have seen that almost all verticals have done really well for us this quarter but for the Retail sector . I think Retail sector is something which is like in the almost entire industry, of your peers also, have kind of spoken about it. What is the outlook on this sector? I mean what do you think the client s are waiting for to restart their spends and where could those spends be coming in terms of the domains that we are looking at? And then I have a follow-up question?

I mean just to dwell a little bit further on that, wh at exactly is – I mean so we know that because the macro-overhang is on most of the BFSI companies and all. At this point of time any specific thing that you think would be a trigger apar t from let us say – I mean of course the interest rate that you mentioned that could possibly see th ese companies reverting their spend or difficult to call out that again?

Infosys Limited CC-Jun24.pdf · 2024-07-18

Hi. Good evening. Thanks for taking my question and congrats on a very solid start to the financial year. Salil, two questions from my side. One is we have seen that almost all verticals have done really well for us this quarter but for the Retail sector . I think Retail sector is something which is like in the almost entire industry, of your peers also, have kind of spoken about it. What is the outlook on this sector? I mean what do you think the client s are waiting for to restart their spends and where could those spends be coming in terms of the domains that we are looking at? And then I have a follow-up question?

I mean just to dwell a little bit further on that, wh at exactly is – I mean so we know that because the macro-overhang is on most of the BFSI companies and all. At this point of time any specific thing that you think would be a trigger apar t from let us say – I mean of course the interest rate that you mentioned that could possibly see th ese companies reverting their spend or difficult to call out that again?

Updates Infosys Limited has informed the Exchange regarding 'Earnings Call Transcript'. · 2024-04-18

So what I wanted to ask was that if I look at this line item called third-party items bought for service delivery to clients, which is essentially what we call the pass through revenues. Now that has increased significantly over the past three years from 4.5% to 7.5%. Now in the earlier quarters, you have called it out that it is now a strategic part of our business. Be that as it may, this changing nature of the business in which this is becoming an increasingly higher part of our revenue, does that impact our abi lity to expand our margins from the levels that they are today? Because these, as far as, we know these come at very little margin as compared to the overall company margin. And is this a change that we can expect to continue, and this line item to continue increasing as a percentage of revenue going forward as well?

Got it.

Infosys Limited CC-Mar24.pdf · 2024-04-18

So what I wanted to ask was that if I look at this line item called third-party items bought for service delivery to clients, which is essentially what we call the pass through revenues. Now that has increased significantly over the past three years from 4.5% to 7.5%. Now in the earlier quarters, you have called it out that it is now a strategic part of our business. Be that as it may, this changing nature of the business in which this is becoming an increasingly higher part of our revenue, does that impact our abi lity to expand our margins from the levels that they are today? Because these, as far as, we know these come at very little margin as compared to the overall company margin. And is this a change that we can expect to continue, and this line item to continue increasing as a percentage of revenue going forward as well?

Got it.

HCL Technologies Limited

HCL Technologies Limited CC-Jun24.pdf · 2024-07-12

CVK, I just had two questions. One, I think this quarter, we were expecting a decline because of the project moving from onsite to offshore, but adjusting for that, how is the BFSI segment looking like? How is the growth overall in this segment in terms of the pickup in demand ; I mean we had a very strong BFSI performance last year, do you expect that momentum to continue or even get better ? And a similar comment if you could provide on Manufacturing. What led to this decline in the Manufacturing vertical in this quarter and how do we see it going forward?

So, apart from this, these three things that you mentioned, the overall outlook in the Manufacturing remains as it was, let's say last year?

HCL Technologies Limited CC-Mar24.pdf · 2024-04-26

So, again, just harping on that again, offshoring part. So, as I think a lot of people have before and this generally should be business as usual in a normal course of business , but if it is as big as to be called out separately and impacting the growth for the full year, so one, I mean any other project that you see in our portfolio where you could probably, I mean similar kind of negotiations are happening or given the environment they could run the risk of a similar kind of runoff? And secondly, in the overall scheme of things, is the impact on revenue is that big, wouldn't it also help our margins as well. So, giving the guidance and saying does that mean that there should be at least some benefit on the margin front if we are losing out on the revenue part?

And my first question, any other deals where you think this could a similar risk stan ds or there could be similar kind of runoffs?

HCL Technologies Limited CC-Dec23.pdf · 2024-01-12

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. And congrats on a great performance. I had a couple of questions. In terms of the ask rate Prateek that you mentioned, I mean, it appears to be steep on the services side. So, if I were to just take it back to the strong deal wins that we've had, is it a combination of these deals getting into a situation that makes us confident that we'll be able to do this in the fourth quarter? Or is there any pickup on the ground level acti vity that you are basically seeing, which could help us achieve that number?

Got it, got it. Thanks a lot CVK that was a very detailed answer to that. So taking on that momentum, how do you see the overall demand environment and the macro playing out? I think if you're going to end up, let's say, in that guided range of the services business, and as you said, maybe towards the higher end. Does it translate into anything for FY'25? Again, not asking for guidance, but the overall environment per se that you're looking at - is it any different or incrementally more positive from where we were three months ago in terms of, clients' discussions, clients willing to start the deals, decision-making, any changes whatsoever, or is it pretty much the same as we were when we spoke last quarter?

Tata Consultancy Services Limited

Tata Consultancy Services Limited CC-Jun24.pdf · 2024-07-11

Yes. Hi. Thanks for taking my question. So, two questions from my side. One, Krithi, just wanted to understand on the retail segment. I mean, this is a quarter in which we kind of believe we've turned the corner. But for us to be able to report growth on a sustainable basis in this, what exactly are the clients' worries in the sector at this point of time? So, like in BFSI, we know that I think the US macro improves. I think that should lead to some, let's say, incremental spending or a revival of tech spending that they have put on hold. Interest rate cuts could be possible, triggers and all. But what is that is keeping these retail clients their spend on hold? And what could possibly change in the coming quarters for us to start reporting growth in this segment on a sustainable basis?

Got it. But then improving macro situation in which maybe inflation is coming down with the CPI data today or let's say there's some possibility of let's say, | 22 interest rate cuts you expect this segment those should act as tailwinds for the sector.

Vodafone Idea Limited

Vodafone Idea Limited CC-Mar24.pdf · 2024-05-17

My quick couple of questions were , one is assuming that the debt raise that we were planning and the non-fund limit increase that we were planning to get from the banks was contingent on the FPO that has already materialized. By when do you think we would be able to raise these funds, any timeline for that if you could provide? Also, a related question would be that given the amount of liabilities that we have to pay sto the Government of India, assuming the moratorium period ends in September next year and post that those liabilities come due, would those liabilities be funded by the debt or the equity base that we have raised or would we look for part conversion into equity or internal accruals or some kind? What is the kind of mathematics that you are looking at in being able to address that?

And the remaining part of the liabilities which are not eligible for conversion. You think internal accruals would be good enough to address them by then?

BIRLASOFT LIMITED

BIRLASOFT LIMITED CC-Mar24.pdf · 2024-04-29

Thanks for taking my question. Angan two questions from my side. The growth in ERP of course was very strong in this quarter. So if you could just maybe talk a bit about the sustainability of this growth, how do you see it playing out over FY '25. Of course in the long-term we've talked about a lot about the ERP refresh cycle. So any early signs of that setting in or do you think it's still a good time away? And on the counterpoint, anything to worry about the growth being not so great in the other service lines that we have and then probably I have a follow-up for Kamini.

The question was, I mean, on a similar note the other service lines data analytics, digital and infra, they all reported a modest performance. So anything to read into that or just a seasonality thing?

BIRLASOFT LIMITED CC-Dec23.pdf · 2024-01-24

Thanks for taking my questions and congrats on a very solid performance in the seasonally weak quarter. So two questions from my side. One for Angan and one for Kamini after that. So Angan, just wanted to basically understand a bit more on these short -term projects that you mentioned, which helped you tied over the furloughs in this quarter. So if you could just elaborate a bit more about -- I mean the kind of duration of these projects, which specific verticals or service line s these projects were from? And do you believe that this could be your strategy going forward that would continue, to take on these short -term projects? Or was it just a kind of a one -time effort to tide over the furloughs which we had expected in this quarter?

So before that, if I could just have a follow-up on the short-term projects. So as you mentioned, it's going to be a strategy for us going forward. Now assuming these projects are also captured in our deal flow numbers, so would that mean that our deal flow numbers could be a bit volatile, because these short-term projects would not be recurring every time. There could be some more in one quarter and a few less in some other quarters. So would that be -- I mean, of course, it's just on a con tinuity basis that I'm asking. So would that be lending some volatility to our deal flow numbers?

MphasiS Limited

MphasiS Limited CC-Mar24.pdf · 2024-04-26

Maybe my question was on BFS direct, excluding DR. What is the -- I mean, of course, in this quarter, it was down 9% Y -on-Y as we can see for the presentation, but I'm sure there's a sequential improvement in the business as we have seen. So what is -- if you could just basically give some idea to what is happening in that segment, what are our key trends, which we should look at? And going forward in the next 2 to 3 quarters, how do you see that segment playing out?

Got it. But on the demand side, just to wrap up with clarifications on my side. On the demand side, I mean, how are the BFSI customers, again -- excluding mortgage that I'm talking about, how are the BFSI customers reacting to the interest rate scenario be ing pushed out further and further? Is there any dependency of the -- on the tech spend on this thing or do you think we are well past that and now tech spend hit the bottom end and from there we should recover?

L&T Technology Services Limited

L&T Technology Services Limited CC-Mar24.pdf · 2024-04-25

Congrats on a very solid performance. Amit, so my question was on the overall growth environment and the growth target that we have set for FY25. Now last quarter you mentioned that the winter is over, and the spring is around the corner. So, do you believe this guidance is a reflection of that and or do you believe the macro has changed a bit since then which led us to maybe a slightly lower guidan ce than what we were expecting o r maybe on the other hand, maybe slightly better than what we were expecting?

Absolutely. But we knew this was driven by the SWC seasonality?

LTM Limited

LTM Limited CC-Mar24.pdf · 2024-04-24

Two questions from my side. One question, DC, just wanted to check. As you rightly mentioned, our top clients have actually grown higher than the company average. And that's true for FY '24 as well as fourth quarter as well. So just wanted to pick it the other way around. The growth has actually been dragged by the long tail or, let's say, the remaining part of the client bucket. So I mean, what is it that we are seeing there, which is kind of making this revenue overall drag than the top 40? I mean, I'm imagining that the top 40 clients' performance would have been impacted by the project cancellations you mentioned in Q4. But despite that, the non-top 40 clients, apart from, let's say, the discretionary spend that you mentioned, any other thing that you believe is impacting them? And do you see some of them reversing in the coming quarters? And then I have a follow up for Vinit.

Got it. I just have one follow-up question for Vinit. So Vinit, on the margins front, of course, this quarter, you mentioned the impact of one-off things and all. What is the fresher-hiring target that we have for FY '25? And do you believe that could actually impact margins basically negatively in the near term, taking that into account and given that utilization is already 87%, what could be the incremental margin levers for you from current levels?

Tech Mahindra Limited

Tech Mahindra Limited CC-Dec23.pdf · 2024-01-24

Mohit, just to follow up on the previous question, I think telecom sector, I think you gave a very good comprehensive view of this. I would just like to maybe just extend it and basically take your views on specifically the Manufacturing and BFSI capabilities for us. You mentioned these are both a billion-dollar portfolio for us. Manufacturing specifically, I think has been quite stagnant, if I look at the last five years, we haven't gone anywhere in terms of overall size of revenue, whereas BFSI of course I'm sure you would know so much about the industry. So, where do you think are the capabilities of TechM maybe lacking that we've specifically in these domains, organically, the growth has not been that great, and any specific pockets that you were able to identify or white spaces which you would probably want to fill in to be able to drive the growth to the levels over the next two years?

Just one small question for Rohit. You mentioned that the adjusted margins for this quarter was at around 7% for the 150 basis points exceptional item. Now, I don't want the numerical details per se, b ut if I compare it to the year -on-year margin, last year same quarter we did 12% margins. So, assuming that the 7% margin is the core margin of the company, any specific heads that you would probably want to highlight, whereas that 500 basis points gone this year because the 7% is excluding the exceptional items, maybe the growth is lower because of that, I think the numbers got impacted, but given that utilization is also at around 88%, where do you believe large chunk of this margin has gone out so that i t's easier for us to build in as to when the recovery margins happen, where are the pockets that we could be probably looking at?