Persistent Systems To Be ‘Cautious’ On Campus Hiring This Year, CEO Says

Mid-tier IT services company Persistent Systems will be 'cautious' on campus hiring in the new fiscal on the back of the ease which it sees in getting the talent when the business requires, a top official has said. The company will prioritise growth over profitability at a time when macroeconomic uncertainties have dented demand for IT services, its chief executive Sandeep Kalra told PTI.

On the hiring front, he said the company had made 700 offers to freshers in FY24 and over 500 of them have already joined. Making it clear that it will honour all the hiring commitments made earlier, Kalra said the remaining ones will join in the next three-four months.

Kalra said he does not see the need to hire talent ahead of the curve at present because of the easing attrition levels in the IT industry, which help it hire talent as and when required once clarity emerges on the business front.

The current situation has led to a relook into the hiring plan for the new fiscal at the Pune-headquartered company.

'As far as going to the campus and making offers for the next year is concerned, we will definitely look at it cautiously because (of) the demand and supply (situation) where we are able to get the supply as we need. We don't need to rush into forward looking 12 month commitments,' he said.

An IT sector job is much sought after by the lakhs of graduating engineering students every year for its stability and the growth opportunities it offers. As the demand for IT services shot up during the pandemic, such workers were in big demand and companies reported attrition of over 20%.

However, the recent softness in demand seems to be having some impact on the human resources front as well, with many companies like the largest IT services exporter TCS reducing their overall headcount in FY24.

Persistent had its overall headcount increase to 23,850 in March 24, from 22,889 in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, when asked about the concerns shown by investors in Monday's trade after the company guided towards difficulties on margin growth, Kalra said he cannot comment much on that but reiterated that growth is the priority for the company at present.

Stating that the company has outpaced its peers in the IT industry over the last few years, Kalra said the current strategy has been adopted as a prudent one and added that the growth will help deliver on margins eventually.

'When the market comes back, if you have market share, if you have good investments, good capabilities, your margins can be optimized anytime. Optimizing margins is an easier task than delivering growth,' he said.

He also affirmed its medium term target to widen the operating profit margin, which came at 14.5 per cent in Q4FY24, by 2-3 percentage points and also take the revenue up to $2 billion.

The company reported a 25.4% growth in its March quarter net at Rs 315.32 crore, while the revenue was up 14.9% to Rs 2,590 crore.

The company shares closed 0.72% up at Rs 3,535.95 a piece on the BSE on Tuesday, as against gains of 0.12% on the benchmark.