Hyderabad, Jan 21

Persistent Systems has said it will hire over 3,000 fresh engineers in the next financial year, doubling the number they hired in this financial year.

“We are working with engineering colleges to hire the right candidates and train them in niche skills while they are still in college. Fresh hires are digitally savvy, making it easy for us to train them in skills required by the industry,” Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Persistent Systems, Sandeep Kalra, told BusinessLine.

He said the industry is witnessing elevated attrition levels and that there is a need to expand capacities instead of poaching from peers.

Demand landscape

He said the demand landscape for IT services was healthy as companies continued to invest in technologies in order to meet the growing demand for digital services.

Quoting third-party projections, he said the IT services industry would see 4.6-5 per cent growth in the next financial year.

“There will be broad-based demand for various verticals,” he said.

Return to work

On the rapid spread of Covid-19 cases, he said there was no disruption to business continuity.

“Omicron is much more contagious, but it has not caused much harm. Though it has not impacted business, it will definitely defer the return-to-work phase by a few months,” he said.

Interim dividend

The board of directors has declared an interim dividend of ₹20 per share on a face value of ₹10 each for the financial year 2021-2022.

For the third quarter ended December 31, 2021, the company posted a net profit of Rs 176 crore as against Rs 121 crore in the comparable quarter last year. It reported a total income of Rs 1,522 crore (Rs 1,105 crore) in the quarter.

Sunil Sapre, Chief Financial Officer, said the company had witnessed good growth momentum for a third consecutive quarter.

“Our acquisitions, mostly in the BFSI sector, contributed 2.5 per cent of a revenue growth of 9.2 per cent, with the remaining growth coming from organic growth,” he said.

He said the firm was able to record a high margin of 16.8 per cent despite the fact that it had to spend significantly on hiring at higher costs and to retain the talent.

“The industry is continuing to witness a high attrition rate. It is about 26 per cent for us. This made us go for back filling, hiring people at a higher cost,” he said.

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