Persistent Systems posted handsome Q4 earnings with revenues growing 12 per cent to cross $100 million for the first time in a quarter. Speaking to Bloomberg TV India , Persistent’s President for Service Business Mritunjay Singh says the company is continuously scouting for acquisitions as there is no way a company can build all of the technology in-house.

If you can run us through the Q4 numbers and the highlights?

It’s one of the landmark quarters for us because we have crossed $100 million revenue for the first time. It is also very important because we have tied into a very new ecosystem, which is a $70 trillion opportunity — it is internet of things (IoT). There are many numbers around it. We’re just beginning to build our capability around it.

So, it’s very exciting. We have done some large multi-year, multi-million dollar transformation deal. In one of the insurance companies, we’re trying to change their entire claims-processing system.

We really think that the future is going to be really pre-build software and we are getting ready for that.

When we are talking of FY17, can you quantify the kind of growth that you’re expecting?

If you see what we have achieved in Q4 and if you see the run rate, it’ll tell you that we’ll be a high double-digit growth kind of a company. What number we’ll end up is tough to call out because it’s a volatile market, which I think is great for us. People are changing their technology buying behaviour and that’s a great time to be in a technology business.

And what is expected to drive the growth significantly looking forward?

There’s a very interesting thing happening in the market. People are trying to buy software more from changing the speed of how technology is deployed.

And when you want to do that, then they are looking at what kind of companies can help them change it faster by working with them either on a platform or a pre-build software.

And that’s where we step in. It is a kind of software driven business we’re trying to go after.

What’s the picture expected to be like on the pricing and volume in FY17?

If you look at the overall technology spend, there is a tremendous pressure. But if you look at it from the technology spend that we are in, which is all about what is called digital, there is a big exciting opportunity. How much cash do you have in your books? Are you looking at acquisitions?

The total cash in our books is $130-140 million. We continuously scout for acquisitions.

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