Things are now a bit slow in the marketplace. As a result, business decision cycles are getting longer and this environment is likely to continue as most matured economies around the globe are expecting low GDP growth in 2020, cautions Keshab Panda, MD and CEO at L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS).
In an exclusive chat with The Hindu, Mr. Panda, however, said, “The reality is that the engineering world has changed rapidly and today it’s all about digital, automated reality and virtual reality.”
And, therefore, it was important for manufacturers and factories globally to keep their operational costs down, increase up-time, ensure better energy utilisation, enhance productivity and push up profitability. “Technology is the only thing that will help them achieve all these at one go,” he said.
Hiring freshers overseas
Mr. Panda said his company had taken a conscious decision to hire freshers from campuses in the U.S., Europe and Israel.
“There are areas where data can’t go out of the customer country, especially in aerospace and defence projects. We will hire local employees for such projects,” he said. LTTS plans to hire over 200 freshers in the quarter ending March. Foreign employees now account for 29% of the company’s total strength of 16,787.
“We are minimising our lateral hiring as we understand youngsters are much better when it comes to newer technologies and they with an open mind and are quick to learn.”
LTTS’ new joinees would be from multiple disciples including instrumentation engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, automotive engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, production engineering and computer science.
In the December 31 ended quarter, LTTS raked in total revenues of ₹1,423 crore and a net profit of ₹206 crore, a 8% and 10% y-o-y growth respectively.
On LTTS’ Q3 performance, he said, “We had strong performance in three segments — transportation, plant engineering, and medical devices that are each growing in excess of 20% year-on-year. Digital and leading-edge technologies — the growth driver for ER&D, contributed to 41% of Q3 revenues and grew by 29%.”
