Persistent Systems plans expansion in Europe as part of de-risking strategy

Firm has also increased its offering in digital segment as part of diversification

Mid-sized information technology (IT) products and services firm Persistent Systems plans to expand its presence in Europe, as part of its de-risking strategy to grow outside its main market United States (US).

Last week, the company acquired Australia-based PRM Cloud Solutions, a firm that provides Salesforce solutions to customers. Recently, it acquired Zurich-based Salesforce partner PARX to strengthen foothold in European markets.

"Trump is a phenomena and you don't know which direction it will go," said Mritunjay Singh, president and executive director, Persistent Systems in a phone interview. "We need to make sure that we can generate our business from other regions as well. Similarly, we are looking towards France although it is a rather closed market. We are keen on expanding in continental Europe."

Indian IT services and product services firms are concerned over the US administration's visa policies under President Donald Trump. He has directed his officials to review the H-1B visa programme, widely used by Indian IT firms to move workers to the US, and has pushed for local hiring.

At the same time, clients are spending their dollars more on cloud computing and other digital platforms compared to traditional sourcing.

Persistent has increased its offering in the digital segment as part of diversification.

"The idea is to create a customer base in a newer technology spend then there is an acceleration in revenue here. We are continuously scouting for new opportunities. We are very bullish in India as a business but they will be IP (intellectual property) driven," added Singh.

In the next couple of years, he sees growth in both the size and number of projects, but this year he expects to see more feasible work that will experiment in establishing business cases for these technologies.

The revenue share of North American businesses has dropped marginally to 85.5 per cent from 87 per cent last year. The company reported 2.5 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 75 crore in the quarter ended June 30. Operating margins dropped 2 per cent to 14.3 percentage due to rupee appreciation, lower utilisation, among others.