Bangalore Pune-based IT services major Tech Mahindra Ltd. is betting big on the opportunities provided by 5G and digital transformation. It has also recently forayed into the metaverse space with the launch of TechMVerse, to provide customers with interactive and immersive experiences. It plans to hire and train around 1,000 dedicated people for TechMVerse in the first year and, initially, the operations will be spread across four hubs – Dallas, London, Pune and Hyderabad. Tech Mahindra’s entry into the metaverse is expected to be an extension of its NXT.NOW framework, which aims to enhance human-centred experiences by investing in emerging technologies and solutions that enable digital transformation to meet emerging customer needs . As it creates a digital-ready talent pool to power its new initiatives, it is expanding to various Tier-II cities to find and attract the best talent. In an interview, Tech Mahindra MD & CEO CP Gurnani talks about what is driving the demand, its foray into the metaverse, and the hiring strategy. Edited excerpt:
What’s the overall demand environment like, and what are customers spending on?
It is very clear that 5G and digital transformation are driving the demand. And clearly, the legacy piles are moving to the cloud. When it comes to engineering, there is a demand for electric vehicles. The third demanding driver is cyber security, and the fourth driver is sustainability. So, in general, I would say that 5G, experience design, and ‘physics’ (a combination of physical and digital) are driving consumption.
What are your hiring plans for the next financial year, including your strategy to hire from Tier-II cities?
We do not share recruitment forecast numbers, but we have opened many new centers in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. For example, we have opened international centers in places like Latvia, Romania and Costa Rica. We expect over 10% of our new workforce to come from Tier-II cities. It is helping us attract talent. We believe the skill level is very good, and the dropout rate is very low. We are pivotal in expanding our global reach through Tier-II cities. In India, for example, there is great talent available in places like Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Indore, Vijayawada and Coimbatore.
Tech Mahindra has launched its Metaverse offering. How do you want to take this to your customers?
A key focus area is helping our customers in their digital journey, and technology is helping us differentiate. The metaverse is clearly a major difference. Like any other new technology, our Metaverse offering will be initially rolled out to a small group and then shared with our customers as it is also a new way for most of them to run their business. By definition, you are now saying that you have redefined the universe to be a meta-universe. We believe initially, our Metaverse offerings, which include dealerships, Metaverse-based car dealerships; Middlemist, our NFT Marketplace; Or Meta Bank, a virtual bank, would be run as a separate entity. But ultimately, it will work in tandem with different workspaces.
Who are the early adopters of the Metaverse?
The first is the gaming sector which comes under our media and entertainment vertical. Second is healthcare and then retail. I don’t think we’ve seen much adoption in manufacturing right away. But we have seen it clearly in banking. We are also seeing this in dealer management and the NFT (Fungible Token) market.
You have made eight acquisitions in FY22. What is your acquisition strategy?
From a strategy perspective, our mergers and acquisitions are driven by capacity building, portfolio de-risking and geographic expansion. I’m not trying to say that I want to be dominant in all markets, but I want to take advantage of the presence my clients need there. Some of the recent acquisitions include com tech company IT, Infostar LLC, We Make Websites, DigitalOneUS and Activas Connect.
What could be the impact of Russia-Ukraine conflict on Tech Mahindra and the IT sector?
If you look at it from a purely mathematical point of view, it has no direct impact as the Indian IT sector is not really dependent on either of the two countries. I am sure it will have an overall impact on the global economy. It could also be an advantage as some of the talent-dependent companies in Russia and Ukraine want to come to India by mitigating the risk. But we consider it a very unfortunate incident. We don’t have employees or offices in Ukraine and Russia, but we feel bad. We are not a firm that wants to see an opportunity due to war unless a customer comes to us and asks for help.
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