The third quarter was the best-ever quarter for Larsen and Toubro Infotech (LTI) since its listing, while attrition continues to be a pain for both LTI and the industry. The company, a subsidiary of construction major Larsen & Toubro, has been recording more than $500 million in revenues per quarter and is set to cross $2 billion by the end of this financial year. The firm, which is also planning to expand its presence in the US, is banking on emerging technologies such as Metaverse to further growth, its chief executive officer and managing director Sanjay Jalona tell FE’s Rajesh Kurup. Edited excerpts:

Q. This Q3 was a good one, with revenues rising 32.2% YoY and 9.8% QoQ. Where is the growth coming from?
The demand is coming in from what we call the ‘era of great restructuring’, mainly led by the pandemic, where everyone has to rethink their strategies to create new opportunities. Because of this, some new-spend areas – like cybersecurity – have opened up, even as many industries have started spending a lot more on technology. Environmental, social and governance is another space that is growing, and the third reason is the great resignation. All these are helping agile companies like us. LTI has been recording more than $500 million in revenues per quarter, and we are set to cross $2 billion by the end of this financial year.

Q. Are you in talks with IT companies looking to move their business from the Ukrainian region?
The war is an unfortunate development when the world is still grappling with two years of social, economic, and health crises caused by the pandemic. We are stepping up to support humanitarian efforts. The doors of our office in Poland are open to anyone in need of food or shelter. We are talking with some of our clients looking for safer destinations for their critical engagements.

Q. What’s your attrition and what are your plans to retain talent?
Our attrition as of Q3 was 22.5% on a last-12-month basis, which was a bit on the higher side. This is an industry-wide issue, but it is plateauing now. LTI is a preferred employer across the world, and we will continue to focus on employee satisfaction. Last year, we gave two salary hikes to employees and have launched a new programme called the ‘Yin-Yang Model’ to offer hybrid work opportunities. We are also expanding our operations to more cities.

Q. Which new geographies do you plan to expand into?
Typically, about 65-70% of our revenues are from North America and we expect that to continue. North America and Europe will remain the largest markets for us. We are hiring in the US, and plan to announce an office in Hartford, Connecticut, while expanding our presence in Houston, Texas and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We also have a growing presence in Poland through our Warsaw delivery centre.

Q. Digital and Metaverse are the new buzz words, while the cloud continues to drive growth. How is LTI planning to cash in on these?
When we got listed in 2017, a little over 20% of our business was from digital which is now more than 50%. Digital over the last few years has become the biggest growth driver and we expect that to continue in FY23. Enterprise technology platforms like SAP, Oracle and Salesforce will continue to drive growth, while our industry expertise will continue to help with global expansion in sectors like banking and manufacturing. On Metaverse, we are having exciting conversations with customers across sectors. The cloud, digital and data are the fastest-growing service lines, and our investments in these areas are helping our industry-leading growth.

Q. Are you scouting for further acquisitions?
We have acquired seven companies since we got listed, with a combined investment of about $100 million. Our strategy has been to acquire for capabilities, not for scale and we will continue to approach it the same way going forward.