Large deals provide solid foundation to grow for Infosys: Nandan Nilekani

“We had 95 large deals valued at $9.8 billion for the year, of which 40% were net new (deals). This promises a solid foundation to grow and build resilience in the months to come,” Nilekani said Wednesday at the 42nd annual general meeting of India’s second-largest IT company.

In a virtual address to shareholders, he said the Bengaluru-based firm’s capability to harness opportunities despite the dynamic times of inflation, interest rates, geopolitics, war, demand volatility and supply chain dislocations is “tremendous”.

Infosys had projected 4-7% revenue growth – its lowest in six years – for the ongoing fiscal 2024. Rivals HCLTech and Tata Consultancy Services are expected to kick off the results season on July 12. Infosys will report results on July 20.

Indian IT firms are bracing for a tough year amid the macro headwinds and tightening of discretionary spending by their clients. The regional banking crisis in the US has hampered sentiments further in the banking and financial services vertical that draws nearly 35-40% of the sector’s total revenue.

Client attention changing

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Chief executive Salil Parekh said the overall demand environment has changed with the global economy and the GDP rates slowing down. “We see now more clients’ attention moving from digital and cloud transformation to cost efficiency and automation. And we are fortunate that even in the consolidation area, we have a lot of opportunities,” he added.Parekh recounted Infosys’ recent deal wins – from oil major BP ($1.5 billion) and Denmark’s Danske Bank ($454 million) – as opportunities in the cost-efficiency space. The company said such deals help clients reduce costs through offshoring, automation and digitisation.

Addressing questions on the deployment of generative artificial intelligence (AI), Infosys said it currently has 50 active client projects where they are using generative AI applications. “This is becoming an increasing part of the new world which is going to be defined on an AI-first basis,” said Parekh.

Last month, the company launched Topaz – an AI suite of services, solutions and platforms using generative AI technologies. It leverages Infosys applied AI framework and the Infosys Cobalt cloud. The solution has more than 12,000 use cases.

Asked on the string of senior-level exits, such as Mohit Joshi and Ravi Kumar S to rivals, last year, Parekh reiterated that Infosys has a strong and deep leadership bench and internal talent pool. “We feel that that group of leaders that Infosys has produced over the years through its own leadership development and the work in delivery in markets, really prepares them to do more. We have made sure that those leaders step up and take that on,” the CEO said.