Mid-tier IT firm Coforge plans to increase total employee headcount, in a bid to achieve “aggressive growth” going forward. CEO Sudhir Singh is confident of recording robust growth, and significant spike in margins in the next quarter, even as macro-challenges are anticipated to persist.

“We will be increasing the headcount very aggressively because we are targeting aggressive growth going forward. We don’t think the macros are going to improve but we’ve been able to grow despite the macros and that’s the intent going forward. To support that growth, we will need the headcount to increase significantly,” Singh told businessline.

In Q3, Coforge’s total employee headcount stood at 24,607, marginally lower from 24,638 last quarter. The company expects existing order books and opportunities in healthcare, public sector and retail vectors, to help drive growth in the near future. Although it does not expect the demand environment to improve anytime soon, it sees greenshots that can be aimed for.

Singh explains that initiatives such as digital retailing for airports is keeping its airlines and airports business in good stead. Further, despite macroeconomic uncertainty in the BFSI sector, initiatives in regulatory, compliance, productization, innovation, and agility through delivery continue.

Underscoring the growth vectors, Singh said, “The core focus will remain on ensuring growth in banking, insurance and traveling. We are also focused on healthcare, where we have made significant investments and it is shaping up well. Public sector has already been shaped and we think it will show definite growth. Retail has been a nascent sector for us, but it has been growing.”

In terms of margins, the company’s EBITDA margin stood at 17.3 per cent, up by 201 bps QoQ. Going forward Coforge expects margins to improve significantly. Singh said, “There should be a very significant spike in our margins, even over Q3. Q4 is the strongest quarter on the margin front, and we are expecting something similar to play out.”

Talking about the materialization of AI projects, Singh explains that the last quarter marked a shift from just conversations to actual revenue generating proof of concepts and engagements. Coforge has so far done 100 POC’s for clients, and is involved in AI heavy engagements. Which tend to be of shorter cycle.

“AI as a technology has already started impacting revenue significantly, not through direct revenue generation. AI is actually allowing us to reimagine the existing technology service lines of analytics, product engineering, or business process services. The presence of AI and the solutions that you create with AI is what is leading to wins and differentiation,” he noted.

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