Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) sees good opportunities in future as world-wide spending on IT products and services grew 5 per cent last year and global sourcing is also up.
Addressing shareholders at the company’s 17 annual meeting on Friday, Ratan Tata, Chairman, TCS, said, “however, the depressed situation in the west is a cause for concern.”
Mr. Tata was addressing a TCS AGM for the last time as Chairman of the company. He steps down from the board of the Tata Group as Chairman in December this year when Cyrus Mistry, who was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Group in November 2011, takes over.
“For TCS, North America, continental Europe and the U.K. continue to be major markets, and there are good opportunities in new markets such as Australia and the Middle East,” Mr. Tata said.
“We fully realise that the global economic environment is volatile and recovery will be a prolonged exercise. There is a weakness in multiple markets, both developed and developing, and also the issue of currency volatility. All clients globally tell us that leveraging technology is fundamental for their recovery,” said N. Chandrasekaran, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, TCS.
Thrust area
He said the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) vertical continued to be the thrust area for TCS.
Mr. Chandrasekaran said, “there is a huge consumerisation of IT with smart devices today. Technology is becoming all-pervasive and this brings opportunities for us to be able to leverage the technology for all our stakeholders.”
460 patents
TCS had filed for 460 patents this year alone, taking its total patent filings to 855. In 2011-12, TCS was granted four patents taking the total patent approvals to 72.
Mr. Chandrasekaran said “We are focusing on non-linear growth, and are looking at growth from software products, process platforms and industry specific solutions. We have a good footprint across the globe and we need to leverage our solutions for growth across markets.”
The company was increasing its global footprint by opening development centres across Latin America — Mexico, Peru, Chile and Ecuador — and also China and the Philippines, said Mr. Chandrasekaran.
