LTTS expects mobility biz to turn around from Q4: MD & CEO Amit Chaddha

LTTS CEO Amit Chaddha says the mobility business is set for a turnaround from Q4 as the firm pivots to engineering intelligence and reshapes its portfolio under a new five-year strategy

L&T Technology Services (LTTS) reported a 6 per cent drop in profit to ₹302.6 crore for the third quarter of 2025-26 (Q3FY26) due to the impact of new labour codes while its revenue was up 10.2 per cent to ₹2,923.5 crore, compared to last year, helped by its sustainability business. In an interaction with Avik Das, LTTS Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD&CEO) Amit Chaddha talks about macroeconomic conditions, how the company’s mobility business is expected to turn around from Q4, and the firm’s new five-year strategy. Edited excerpts:

 

Mobility contributed about 50 per cent to the total contract value (TCV) in Q3 and yet it has reported negative growth for at least three consecutive quarters. What are the challenges and when do you see growth coming back?

 

There are a couple of things happening. If I look at the last two quarters, TCV wins that we've had are largely based on wins in the sustainability segment and some parts of the tech segment. We've been missing deals in the mobility segment. So, the good news is that mobility has started to close deals.

 

The Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) has stabilised and, therefore, we believe it has turned the corner. Next quarter onwards, you will continue to see growth in mobility. The problem is that with all the tariff wars, there was a little bit of a lull. In fact, US auto has already turned around for us, and I expect European auto business to turn around from next quarter onwards.

 

Can you detail the five-year strategy that you are embarking on?

 

As we build the next five-year strategy, the goal is to see if there are portfolios or little parts of them that don't make sense for us anymore. Because the tech stack is changing. In fact, we are moving from being an artificial intelligence (AI) company to an engineering intelligence (EI) company where we are bringing physical AI, industrial AI, and digital AI together.

 

What are the main pillars of this strategy, and which are some of the portfolios and regions that you will reassess?

 

Our areas of focus will be software-defined vehicles (SDVs), plant engineering, medical technologies, energy automation, and industrial automation. Besides this, we will also concentrate on data-centre buildout, which includes compute, storage, semiconductor, hardware design, and data engineering. So, we are carefully looking at the other pieces that don't make sense.

 

Can you call out which businesses do not fit in your growth plans any longer?

 

There were some which we shut down in Q3, and there are some which will be closed down by March this year. There are businesses and regions in Europe that are not making sense given the volatility in the region. There are parts of telecom and infra business where we were providing support for old legacy applications. We have let go of that. And there are some businesses in India that we have moved away from as they were not of high margins.

 

Will your hiring numbers continue to remain low going forward?

 

We have been able to push up our utilisation with AI. Earlier we used to run at 75 per cent and this quarter it is 83 per cent, which can go up to 85 per cent with AI. We are able to leverage the teams better. As we move into the next financial year, you will start to see headcount creep up slowly. But I think I can run Q4FY26 and up to maybe Q1FY27 without any net increase.