Need to see TCS Q3 show in larger macro context: CEO K Krithivasan
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in the third quarter, regarded as having been below par, should not be seen in isolation but in the context of macroeconomic factors impacting spends, CEO and MD K Krithivasan told Beena Parmar & Surabhi Agarwal in an interview. He also spoke about early signs of revival, how the new US regime is expected to be more business friendly and competition from global capability centres (GCCs). Edited excerpts:
How do you react to the December quarter being termed as the poorest Q3 performance in several years?
We have to see context also… we know that for a long period now, we have been going through a phase where there is market uncertainty, less intent to spend on behalf of clients. If you had a previous few quarters which were super and then suddenly this drops, then you can say this is a bad performance. So, see (the last quarter) in the context of how the overall growth environment is. Taking it in isolation and saying that this is a worse performance (may not be right).
You have given a positive commentary, so what are the expectations from 2025?
Our positivity comes from the order book. We had, as much as you say, one of the worst top lines, but one of the best tower TCV (Total Contract Value — an indicator of deal sizes) for a Q3. And our TCV has been good across sectors and across industry segments as well as geographies. Our pipeline continues to remain strong. We also saw for the first time, the deal cycle come down, and we see really signs of good discretionary programmes
