India offers huge opportunity, economic trajectory fantastic: Infosys CEO

Infosys CEO: India offers a "huge opportunity" for Infosys, CEO Salil Parekh said, noting that the country's "fantastic" economic trajectory has set it apart from the rest of the world. The Bengaluru-headquartered IT company has clocked "strong growth" in its India business in the first quarter of this fiscal year, although revenue from the market is relatively small.

"India is a huge opportunity... The growth that we are seeing for different types of work across the Indian environment is massive, and we are very much part of making sure that we engage both with private sector companies and with government agencies where we can support, for example, the government's vision on digital India...

"So, we are helping build some of the building blocks for that digital India going ahead," Parekh told PTI.

Stating that the company had been deeply engaged with government projects, he said, “Some of the work we have done on the income tax system (tax filing portal developed for the Income Tax Department) is extremely well received.” Infosys beat expectations with its Q1 report card this time as it reported a 7 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 6,368 crore and raised its growth outlook for the full financial year.

In the year-ago period, the company had clocked a profit of Rs 5,945 crore. For the current fiscal year, the company raised revenue growth guidance to 3-4 per cent from 1-3 per cent projected earlier.

As of June 2024, India's geography accounted for 3.1 per cent of Infosys' revenue basket -- its contribution rising from 2.7 per cent a year ago and 2.2 per cent in March quarter. "In India we had, in Q1, very strong growth in India business. It is quite small still but we are looking carefully at which areas we can most contribute in, with the private sector and with the government," he said.

Parekh further said India's economic success is fantastic "very different from what is going on in any other part of the world". "In terms of the economy, we have managed inflation very well. So a very strong approach the government has put in to make the economy grow nicely," Parekh said. Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India retained the growth and inflation projection at 7.2 per cent and 4.5 per cent, respectively, for the current fiscal year amid expectations of a normal monsoon. According to India's central bank, the real GDP growth for 2024-25 is projected at 7.2 per cent, with Q1 at 7.1 per cent; Q2 at 7.2 per cent; Q3 at 7.3 per cent; and Q4 at 7.2 per cent.

With PTI Inputs