ET NowIn a chat with ET Now, TK Kurien, CEO, IT Business & Executive Director, Wipro, shares his views on the company’s quarterly results. Excerpts:
ET Now: What do you have to say after Wipro’s quarterly performance?
TK Kurien: Demand environment long term has not really changed. Last quarter we had a few headwinds, especially in some of our top accounts where we had projects which kind of finished and new projects did not start. That was a disappointment. But on the positive side, we have done very well in hunting. We have done well in the next set of accounts. So on the balance, I would say that in the long term the picture, that I kind of painted, holds good and I do not see any reason why I should change that particular picture.
Our deal wins too have been fairly robust. You can see that from the announcements. I guess one of the issues that we had last quarter is that the ramp ups really have not happened the way we planned them too. So that has been one little bit of blip if you may for the last quarter.
ET Now: Q2 guidance seems a little subdued considering that ATCO will start contributing. Also, is there a bit of disconnect at least to my eyes between the strong deal wins that you have clocked in this quarter and the growth outlook that you are projecting?
TK Kurien: There are a couple of things. The start part has been kind of a little bit, we have kind of build that into our guidance to start of some of the projects. The good news about starts is even if we start late, the revenue does not go away over the term of the contract. It still is in place and to that extent I am not really worried about it. But the delay in start in some cases is what we have kind of factored into the guidance for quarter two. We have also guided the fact that we expect the second half of the year to be significantly better, and overall if you look at year on year basis, our first quarter results compared to the last quarter the same year, we were close to about 4.9 per cent last year in terms of the year on year growth.
This year we are close to get 9.6 that extent. It is a pretty substantial improvement both in terms of absolute growth as well as in terms of absolute profitability growth. Our operating margins too have been about 2.3 per cent higher than last year. So overall we are making progress. Could the pace be faster? Absolutely, but the good news is that the deal wins in some way substantiate the fact that we are on the right path.
ET Now: What do you have to say after Wipro’s quarterly performance?
TK Kurien: Demand environment long term has not really changed. Last quarter we had a few headwinds, especially in some of our top accounts where we had projects which kind of finished and new projects did not start. That was a disappointment. But on the positive side, we have done very well in hunting. We have done well in the next set of accounts. So on the balance, I would say that in the long term the picture, that I kind of painted, holds good and I do not see any reason why I should change that particular picture.
Our deal wins too have been fairly robust. You can see that from the announcements. I guess one of the issues that we had last quarter is that the ramp ups really have not happened the way we planned them too. So that has been one little bit of blip if you may for the last quarter.
ET Now: Q2 guidance seems a little subdued considering that ATCO will start contributing. Also, is there a bit of disconnect at least to my eyes between the strong deal wins that you have clocked in this quarter and the growth outlook that you are projecting?
TK Kurien: There are a couple of things. The start part has been kind of a little bit, we have kind of build that into our guidance to start of some of the projects. The good news about starts is even if we start late, the revenue does not go away over the term of the contract. It still is in place and to that extent I am not really worried about it. But the delay in start in some cases is what we have kind of factored into the guidance for quarter two. We have also guided the fact that we expect the second half of the year to be significantly better, and overall if you look at year on year basis, our first quarter results compared to the last quarter the same year, we were close to about 4.9 per cent last year in terms of the year on year growth.
This year we are close to get 9.6 that extent. It is a pretty substantial improvement both in terms of absolute growth as well as in terms of absolute profitability growth. Our operating margins too have been about 2.3 per cent higher than last year. So overall we are making progress. Could the pace be faster? Absolutely, but the good news is that the deal wins in some way substantiate the fact that we are on the right path.
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