Coforge CEO expects PE investors on board to open new growth channels

Coforge CEO Sudhir Singh says Advent International's board entry and the Encora acquisition will open new growth channels as deal momentum and AI-led demand stay strong

Coforge Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sudhir Singh on Friday said private equity (PE) firm Advent International is expected to open up new growth channels for the company as it joins the board following its planned acquisition of a 20 per cent stake in Coforge as part of the Encora deal.

 

“We have never had a private equity on our board so far. Once the deal is consummated around April, Advent will join the board. They will have 20 per cent stake. We do plan to work with Advent portfolio companies to see if we can use them as a new channel for driving growth,” said Singh.

 

He was talking to the media after the announcement of the company’s results for the third quarter of 2025-26 (Q3FY26).

 

Singh also added that they will not opt for the qualified institutional placement (QIP) route to writeoff the $500 million debt for Encora, as the company has managed to raise debt from a consortium of banks at attractive interest rates.

 

“We have secured financing from a consortium of five banks at mid-single digit interest rate,” said Singh.

 

In December 2025, Coforge announced the acquisition of US-based Encora — an AI native engineering firm — in an all-cash transaction worth $2.35 billion. The company expects integration cost to be in the range of $10 million-15 million.

 

Singh was also confident that keeping in mind earlier acquisitions, in case of Encora too, all of the synergies or most of the synergies will be realised by Q1FY27.

 

The Coforge CEO called the acquisition of Encora as a “defining moment” for the organisation. “It establishes a scaled AI-led engineering, data services, and cloud services-based capability moat for the company. This allied with a hyper-specialised industry expertise and execution intensity is likely to further accelerate our already industry-leading growth,” he said.

 

The company reported net profit of ₹250.2 crore for Q3FY26, up 17.6 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y). Sequentially, the firm’s profit was down 33.4 per cent due to the impact of the new Labour Codes (₹117.9 crore), legal expenses related to acquisitions, and ₹16.2 crore spend on cyber security issues.

 

Revenue was up 28.5 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹4,188.1 crore. Sequentially revenue was up 5 per cent.

 

Singh highlighted that the year-to-date (YTD) dollar revenue growth was 32.8 per cent, with the top 10 clients revenue growing at 47 per cent.

 

“What is particularly reassuring about this growth — an atypical number in the current market — is the velocity of large deals and the growth of key accounts that underpin it. During this seasonally weak quarter, we signed six large deals. Our next 12 months signed order book is now 30 per cent higher than the same time last year,” he said.

 

With a strong order book and the eventual integration of Encora, Singh is confident that the firm’s growth will be good for FY26, and exceptional for FY27.

 

During Q3FY26, the firm saw growth across verticals and geographies. On a Y-o-Y basis, all the verticals grew well. Growth was led by health care and hi-tech at 56.7 per cent and 8.5 per cent, respectively, quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q). Travel, transportation, and hospitality together grew 52.4 per cent Y-o-Y and 1.6 per cent Q-o-Q. Though banking and financial services (BFS) was down 2.4 per cent sequentially, it grew 13.8 per cent Y-o-Y.

 

In terms of geography, the US grew 22 per cent Y-o-Y and 1.6 per cent Q-o-Q. Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) was up 5.9 per cent Y-o-Y and rest of world (ROW) was up 81 per cent.

 

Singh said beyond the near-term macro narrative, the technology services industry is undergoing a fundamental shift that creates extraordinary opportunity for firms with the right capabilities.

 

“Clients no longer want AI strategies or pilots. They want measurable KPI (key performance indicator) improvement, and operational transformation. The era of experimentation is over. We are entering a new phase where AI, cloud, and data together power enterprise reinvention,” he added.

 

Asked on revenue break-up from AI, Singh said almost 100 per cent of wins and new contracts are AI-infused. “Enterprise clients need to see digital native velocity, allied with enterprise grade delivery maturity. We believe this is a sweet spot on a proforma basis; Coforge and Encora are going to be a $2.5 billion company in revenue,” he said.

 

For the quarter under review, Coforge’s total headcount was 35,341. The company added 445 people during the quarter.