We're optimistic about demand environment: LTTS CEO & MD Amit Chadha

Amit Chadha, the chief executive officer and managing director of  L&T Technology Services (LTTS), spoke to Ayushman Baruah in a virtual interview, where he elaborated on the company’s pricing environment. Edited excerpts: 

What was the basis of the FY24 guidance?
 

We are maintaining our guidance, which implies that we are looking at a strong fourth quarter. We have had several deal wins this quarter and the growth engine has continued. We have filed several patents in artificial intelligence (AI) across segments like transportation, medical, and industrial products. At the end of the third quarter, our patents portfolio stood at 1,249, out of which 811 are co-authored with customers and the rest are filed by LTTS.  

How do you see the overall demand environment for engineering services?
 

Global engineering and research & development (ER&D) spending is going to increase in the coming days to about $600-775 billion by 2025, and India will have a share of about $45 billion in the total spend. So, we are optimistic about the demand environment.

How do you see the pricing environment?
 

We were able to get rate increases last year from our customers. We do expect the same to continue this year as well.

What are you doing differently on the AI and GenAI front?  
 

We have filed 53 patents in GenAI in the last four months. We have created various case studies that are use cases in transportation around test automation; in medical it’s around chest X-ray, endoscopy as well and enhanced imaging. In manufacturing, it’s around production data and industrial data as well as energy analytics. We have developed multiple solutions and have also partnered with AWS, Google, and Nvidia. I believe this will put us in good stead as we move forward.

What are your hiring plans for FY25?
 

By the end of this financial year, we plan to hire about 2,000 freshers and add another 2,000 by next year. We made around 1,200 offers and will make the others as we go forward. Our headcount declined quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q), but that’s because we did not backfill for the attrition. That’s the way of managing our margins.