Japanese technology firm NTT Data aims to double market growth India

Company wants all units to clock 'hyper growth', says CEO of NTT Data India

NTT Data, a $30 billion IT services and infrastructure company, aims to outpace the overall Indian market growth rate of 11-12 per cent. In FY23, the Japanese firm recorded a growth rate of 17-18 per cent in India.

Avinash Joshi, chief executive officer of NTT Data India, attributed the growth to the company's expanding client base of more than 3,000.

NTT Data has four key businesses: Technology solutions, data centres, infrastructure management and applications. Joshi heads the technology solutions, infrastructure management and application business. Shekhar Sharma heads the data centre business.

“In 2022-23 we grew our business in India and went up in terms of employee strength from 25,000 to 40,000. We also took the decision to merge our infrastructure and application business together, and formed NTT Data Inc. As a result of that we are now one group rather than different businesses,” Joshi told ‘Business Standard’ in an interview at the company's Mumbai office.

NTT Data earned $30 billion as revenue in FY23: $11 billion from Japan and the balance, $19 billion, from outside.

India is a key market for NTT Data, accounting for $1 billion in revenue and serving as a global delivery centre for international clients. India’s contribution to NTT Data’s revenue would be in the range of 20 per cent.

“India is among the top 10 markets for the group globally. With the Indian economy in a growth phase we aim to grow double than the market growth going ahead,” said Joshi.

The company's focus areas in India include banking and financial services, manufacturing, and automotive. Banking and financial services is almost 60-70 per cent of the NTT Data India client base.

“In India our technology solution is big, the infrastructure and management business is reasonable and the application services business is small. Going ahead while our focus is to grow all these segments, we want to change the mix of this growth. At present, the technology solution segment is almost 60 per cent of the business. Though we want to grow this, we want to grow the others at a hyper growth so that the contribution changes,” said Joshi.

The reason Joshi wants other segments to grow is also because the technology solution business is project-based, which means that client stickiness is low.

NTT Data India is also focused on digital services, which entails generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), Internet of Things security, sustainability and cutting edge consulting.

“In India we are also in the process of transitioning from traditional IT (information technology) to digital. Globally India is already part of our global R&D investments. Three years back we launched a network of global innovation centres, these are six across the globe. One of them is in Bengaluru, India. This centre is focused on AI and GenAI related innovation.”

Many large Indian IT services companies are realigning their strategy to focus on the domestic market. Asked if competition from such companies was a concern, he said: “I have been a part of the IT services industry for 22-23 years now, what I observe is that businesses tend to go where they see growth and profitability. Most of the time Indian service providers focus on the international market is profitability. So many look at India as a market for a short-term. But once they see their major markets bounce back they move there.”

NTT Data has created a global GenAI platform called AXET+ that will be rolled out on September 1. It will have multiple generative AI tools and workbenches for developers, consultants, and operators.

As part of this rollout, NTT Data’s India centre in Bengaluru is being ramped up. “While we are hiring across segments, for GenAI we want to get at least 200 senior specialists in the area,” said Joshi.

The launch is significant as the company is bringing a software-as-a-services (SaaS) model into the GenAI segment. “We have seen that customers are at various levels of implementation. So for those who are already underway, this platform can be used for their computing requirements. For those who are just going to start this can be an end-to-end platform,” explained Joshi.

Joshi believes that Indian companies have started using GenAI but are behind global peers. “At present the top most countries when it comes to implementation of GenAI are the US, Singapore and South Korea. India is yet to reach there, at least on the enterprise segment,” said Joshi.