TCS aims to be world's largest IT company; says large-scale ops not a worry

The comments from the TCS chief are significant because this means that the Tata Group would displace Accenture which had reported over $50 billion in revenue last year

India's largest software exporter TCS on Friday said it aims to become the topmost IT services company in the world, asserting that it does not "fear" its large-scale operation is hindering the firm's ambitions.

Speaking at the Times Network India Economic Conclave, Rajesh Gopinathan, chief executive and managing director of the company with USD 25 billion in revenues and 6 lakh employees, said there is no reason for the company not to aspire to double, triple or quadruple the revenues from the current levels.

"Absolutely, in many ways we already are," Gopinathan said, without giving a timeline, while answering a question on whether he sees TCS becoming the largest IT company in the world.

He said the company, which is the biggest IT services provider to the banking, financial services and insurance sector, comes a close second on employee count and has had instances of topping the global market capitalisation tables as well.

"Today we are USD 25 billion in size. There are many companies which are USD 50, USD 100 billion in size. There is no reason we shouldn't aspire to be double, triple, quadruple of the size we are today. The question is how do we go about it, what should we do right towards it? But the opportunity is unbounded. Both on demand and supply side we are sitting in a sweet spot," he said.

"Our aspiration in no way should be constrained to where we are today, we should be aspiring to set new standards and we are far away from where the current standards itself are. (There is) huge headroom to still go forward," he added.

The comments from the TCS chief are significant because this means that the Tata Group would displace Accenture which had reported over USD 50 billion in revenue last year. A few weeks ago, TCS had said that it is targeting for revenues to touch USD 50 billion by 2030.

Gopinathan said that back in 2001, the company had set a target of breaking into the top-10 in the world on multiple parameters and adopted specific way of working towards the goal.

Admitting that there is scepticism about a company being too big every time a boundary of scale is broken, Gopinathan pointed out that companies in the supply chain or logistics and consumer packaged goods segment have successfully managed to keep on bettering on their performance.

About having a large base of over 6 lakh employees, Gopinathan said, "We are approaching it very systematically. I don't have any fear that we are at the limit or near the limit of what can be achieved. The focus for us is to structure ourselves to be able to manage the scale and leverage the scale to our advantage, both of which we are doing quite well."

TCS which is witnessing attrition levels of around 17 per cent, amid heavy demand for talent which has seen quite a few companies surpassing 20 per cent attrition level, has been able to command staff loyalty because it recognises that the talent is its biggest strength and is true to its word on all counts.

"There are no legacy people, only legacy technologies. By continuing to train people, providing them with first right of refusal for all new opportunities to our existing people, we have been able to systematically, and in a sustainable way, manage the multiple transitions that the industry sees and the pace of change that the industry sees. this is the magic sauce (for loyalty)," he said.

He said periods of volatility like the current one because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine are natural phenomena for a business like theirs but the key for the company is to be close to the customer, helping them in their hour of need and invest in what will be required in the future so that it forms long relationships.

TCS scrip closed 0.50 per cent down at Rs 3,611.85 a piece on the BSE as against a 1.23 per cent correction on the benchmark.