LTTS aims for a 10x increase in AI, software-defined vehicles specialists

Mumbai: L&T Technology Services is aiming to increase its talent base, specialising in artificial intelligence (AI) and software-defined vehicles (SDV), by ten times in the future, a top company official has said.

The city-headquartered engineering services company is expecting a greater demand from clients for these two areas, along with cybersecurity, due to which it is gearing to increase its talent base, its chief executive and managing director Amit Chadha told PTI recently.

"We are making investments in three areas. One is artificial intelligence, where we are currently at around 200 people and will build out to be a 2,000 people team. Second is SDV, which is about a 180-member team right now, and we will take it to 1,800 people in the next few months. And third is cybersecurity, where we are looking to see (demand)," Chadha said.

When asked for a timeline for adding the talent on the AI side, he did not give a specific answer but said that the additions will be over the next 6-18 months.

The overall employee base of the company stood at 23,300 as of June 30, 2023.

Hiring on the AI front will be largely in India and its centre in Poland, while for SDVs, it will add manpower at its facilities in Sweden's Gothenburg, Munich in Germany, Detroit in the US, Japan, Poland and India, he said.

The company, which hired over 300 employees at a net level during the June quarter, will add another 750 people in the September quarter, he added.

It can be noted that AI talent is needed across five verticals, in which the company operates, to help clients with their research and development activities.

Transportation was the largest contributor to its USD 280 million revenues for the June quarter, accounting for 33 per cent of the pie.

The company won big deals in the transportation sector in the June quarter, and Chadha marked it as among the areas where there is continued spending by clients.

He called out semi-conductor and consumer electronics as sectors where it is witnessing "stress", and termed them as being a drag on the overall business at present.

The overall macroeconomic scenario is also impacting its business, he conceded, pointing out that deal signings are taking longer as more executives at the client ends are getting involved in a decision before a commitment is made.

Despite the 2.9 per cent sequential decline in revenue in Q1 at Rs 2,301 crore, Chadha said he is confident of attaining the 20 per cent revenue growth guidance for FY24 and hitting the USD 1.5 billion dollars per year revenue run rate by FY25.

In the previous quarter, the company faced issues because of delays in decision-making, and one client in the plant and engineering vertical faced some issues, which have been resolved.

On the profitability front, where its operating margin declined by 17.2 per cent in the June quarter from 17.9 per cent in the preceding March quarter, the chief executive said he is confident of attaining the guidance of widening it to over 18 per cent in FY25.

At present, over a fifth of its revenue comes from India by serving local clients' needs, but Chadha flagged some issues in this business relating to pricing and client expectations.

If Indian clients want to enjoy the best services that LTTS provides to global clients, they need to pay for the same, Chadha said, adding that the concerns are more with quasi-state entities.

"The only reason why a company headquartered in India will work with LTTS is when they want to build a global benchmark product. That requires them to pay at global benchmark levels," he added.

Chadha said the company continues to focus on its core principle of using Indian manpower to service global clientele and will be opening or expanding centres in Bengaluru, Chennai and Vadodara in the coming months.