Tata Consultancy Companies (TCS) put up present in Q2FY21 with all-round progress in financials and operations of the firm. Nonetheless, the market stays aggressive in the case of pricing. V Ramakrishnan, chief monetary officer, TCS, tells Shubhra Tandon that nobody has a commanding potential over pricing, and speaks extra on the enterprise. Excerpts:

Is there strain on pricing, are shoppers asking for renegotiations of contracts, or can you command robust pricing energy?

It has been a really steady surroundings. In the first few months of the yr, clearly there have been some prospects who had been positively in search of some assist and we labored it out due to the robust relationships that we now have. However there will not be too many and never throughout the board. At the identical time, pricing energy in the business can be very refined. It isn’t a worth pushed market as a result of prospects see the worth you’re delivering and the way related it’s and whether or not you’re a trusted companion. Additionally, it’s a aggressive scenario, so I don’t suppose anybody has that commanding potential for pricing.

Robust margins in Q2 additionally had the influence of wage hikes not being given in the first half of the yr. Now that you’ve introduced wage hikes, what shall be the influence on margins in Q3 and This autumn?

Sure, it’s proper that some a part of our margins got here in as a result of we didn’t have [the impact of] wage hikes in this quarter, and once we roll it out in October there shall be some influence. However that’s a part of the enterprise model. Sometimes, once we announce wage hikes, traditionally there was between 1 and a pair of% influence on the margins. At the most it has been round 2%, generally between 1.5 and a pair of%. In order that shall be there, it’s intrinsic, however subsequently will probably be pulled again.

On the income entrance, was there an influence of a few of the deal wins from Q1 getting closed in Q2, and is the income progress sustainable?

We don’t give particular steerage, however we see the momentum persevering with and I don’t suppose there may be an considerable shift of offers. Positively, we noticed that in Q1 prospects had been hesitant or going gradual on adoption of cloud migration and particularly into the SaaS model. However we’re seeing [much] extra exercise in that space throughout sectors. These will not be short-term measures, these are additionally essentially altering their methods of managing the provide chain [and] their very own manufacturing surroundings, so investments are going in that course. So, that is positively extra broad-based and extra structured. We don’t see this as one thing which is just a flash in the pan. Nonetheless, we’re not out of the woods but both on the well being scenario or on the economies.

What’s the demand outlook like for the remainder of the yr? Is it sustainable?

It’s clearly established that know-how is [not only], serving to firms tide over the scenario, however can be turning into intrinsic to their restoration and their revival. So, from that perspective I don’t see any cause why demand mustn’t maintain. As an example, enterprise-wide cloud adoption or AI (Synthetic Intelligence) is turning into extra mainstream. Areas like cyber safety, analytics, information harnessing are getting accelerated. So, know-how is right here to remain. This has been a interval the place we now have seen progress throughout sectors with the exception of journey, hospitality and non-essential retail and a few components of media. So, it has been broad-based and we do hope this can proceed.

Will the deal momentum proceed throughout small, mid-sized and huge wins for the remainder of the yr?

One function to notice about the deal wins this quarter is the one massive deal win which we had introduced in December 2019. It’s a multi-year deal, so the contract acquired signed this quarter so that’s the reason it’s included in the numbers now. Nonetheless, a big a part of [them are] smaller and mid-sized. However once we see our pipeline, we now have mixture of each massive offers as effectively as quite a lot of small and mid-sized [ones], so it’s a wholesome pipeline.

What does the multi-year know-how transformation imply in phrases of convertibility into revenues and profitability?

Once we take part strongly in the multi-year know-how improve, we carry collectively three issues: our data and experience in applied sciences, deep contextual data of the prospects, and the deep area data of that particular business. This brings in quite a lot of compelling worth proposition to the prospects. So clearly, it’ll translate into enterprise, and if we’re in a position to run that engine extra effectively, it’ll additionally assist in the margin sustainability and progress.

What sort of spends from firms do you foresee as they embark on this multi-year tech transformation?

It is vitally segmented and it’s throughout many markets and lots of business domains. The purpose that’s being made is that know-how has the potential to do that on a steady foundation for foreseeable time. One has to have a look at the prospects that are there somewhat than being fixated upon when and the way a lot. Potentialities are immense and we’re nonetheless scratching the floor. So many industries and organisations, together with these in the authorities sector, are nonetheless engaged on legacy methods and applied sciences. There is a chance to re-imagine and re-engineer a few of their processes. So, it is a steady journey. That’s what is supposed by this assertion.