BackGirish Paranjpe | Good quarter, but we could have done better
Girish Paranjpe | Good quarter, but we could have done better
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Bangalore: Girish Paranjpe, executive director and joint chief executive, Wipro Ltd, said in an interview that his firm had a good second quarter—the healthcare, retail and energy businesses did well, though, high-tech and parts of telecom lagged—but agreed it could have done better. Edited excerpts:
Your response to the critical market reaction?
From our perspective, it was a good quarter. We saw another quarter of solid underlying volume growth. We had a 6.5% growth in volume terms, 7.5% offshore. Where the market reaction is somewhat critical is in terms of...could we have done better? And yes, we could have done better. I have no arguments with that.
But if you look at the mix of our businesses and verticals, we have a balanced portfolio; not all sectors will do well at the same time. We did well in healthcare, retail, and energy and utilities, but the high-tech (sector) and some part of telecom tended to lag... Because we have a good broad portfolio, the upsurge was restricted.
Telecom for us comes in two flavours—service providers and equipment vendors. We have picked up and done well in the equipment vendor area, which is more difficult. Telecom service providers have traditionally been a high growth sector, but on a quarterly aberration basis, we have had a slowdown. I understand the sense of disappointment of not growing faster, but it is a function of how well we are spread out, which gives us more resilience in good times and bad.
What are your concerns on currency and attrition?
There is uncertainty about currency. There is a G-20 meeting taking place in Seoul over currency. I hope good sense will prevail and I am optimistic that a compromise will be reached, which will avert a currency war. Till that happens, it is a concern. And so is attrition. But to some extent, with the growing maturity of people, and with some of the actions we have taken, we have seen a decline this month. So I think it will subside and it will become more manageable.
How would you characterize your efforts towards non-linear models and consulting?
Eleven percent of our revenues came from non-linear models. Our eventual target is 25%, and in two years, we have come up to 11%. Of course, the first 10% or 15% is easier, but the climb becomes harder.
Consulting grew sequentially 14%. We have added 18 new client partners to the 38 we have had. Consulting is 3% of our business, but as we elevate to more complex, more business critical work, the way that 3% contributes to the 30% of downstream work makes it very important.
sridhar.c@livemint.com
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