Happiest Minds to double hiring in AI business amid skill shortages

Mid-tier IT firm Happiest Minds plans to double its AI and GenAI workforce to over 1,000 by next fiscal, investing more to address skill gaps that are leading to lost revenue

Mid-tier IT services company Happiest Minds said it wants to double the size of its artificial intelligence (AI) and GenAI team to more than 1,000 by the end of the next financial year and double down on investments in this business as it is losing revenue due to a lack of skilled resources.

 

“We are either getting pushed out or revenue opportunities are being lost because customers would wait only for so long. We are losing revenue or leaving revenue on the table because we do not have people,” managing director Venkatraman Narayanan told Business Standard.

 

While the loss of revenue has not reached alarming levels, the company has decided to ramp up headcount in the AI business on a “war footing”, he added. To that effect, the company will also invest another $3 million in the business.

 

The hiring will be mainly focused on lateral or experienced professionals who can be deployed on projects immediately rather than being trained. Utilisation in the AI business also remains alarmingly low, at about 60 per cent, compared to the company-wide utilisation rate of 82 per cent at the end of December. The target will be to raise it to about 70 per cent as more people come on board.

 

The company sees a revenue potential of about $50 million from the GenAI business over the next three years. It announced the setting up of a GenAI business unit last year across its six industry verticals to integrate new features into its clients’ products and services. It started with 15 projects in the proof-of-concept (PoC) stage and expects GenAI revenue of about $8 million by the end of this financial year.

 

The number of transformative use cases has now risen to 32 in GenAI and agentic AI, with several scaling across customers and verticals.

 

“AI-led productivity, modernisation of core platforms, and automation programmes are seeing traction as enterprises focus on measurable outcomes and faster time-to-value. As a result, AI is no longer an add-on in customer conversations. Increasingly, discussions are centred on how AI can be embedded into core workflows and platforms, governed effectively, and scaled across the enterprise,” said Joseph Anantharaju, co-chairman and chief executive officer.

 

Research by ISG, a technology research and advisory firm, shows weaker attribution from AI directly to profit-and-loss metrics such as revenue growth or cost reduction, but stronger improvements in areas such as compliance and risk management.

 

Happiest Minds also reported its third-quarter results, where profit fell nearly 20 per cent to Rs 40 crore due to a one-time charge related to the New Labour Code. The provisional amount was Rs 22 crore. Revenue rose 11 per cent to Rs 588 crore.

 

The company also launched AI First as its 11th strategic transformation, supported by 11 strategic programmes. AI First spans four areas — building advanced AI solutions, AI-native software development, IT service management, and cybersecurity. Growth remained selective, with digital and AI-led programmes holding up better than discretionary spending across the IT sector.