“There is definitely a talent war going on in the industry'

With its net profits soaring in the quarter ending September 2021, Tech Mahindra's CEO and managing director CP GURNANI lays out challenges ahead and the growth plans in an interview with Surajeet Das Gupta. Edited excerpts:

- Surajeet Das Gupta

Has COVID and now the possibility of another wave impacted your business or provided Tech Mahindra with new opportunities?

Half of Tech Mahindra's revenues come from telecom service providers and the telecom ecosystem. There are three factors which have helped, and will help telecom grow. One, most of the telcos realise 5G will add value hence they need to work on network upgradation. Two, newer platforms will drive consumption of telecom. Three, which is the most dominant part, the more work from home happens, the more we will all appreciate the importance of our network service providers.

You were a votary of Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) for 4G and 5G. But recently you have sold off your 50 per cent stake in Altiostar which was a key player in the ORAN technology space to Rakuten. Is there a change in strategy?

We have not abandoned the space. It is just that the number of players in this area has increased. It is no longer only Rakuten, Microsoft, VMware and Mavenir who have their own ORAN ecosystem. We are definitely committed but to remain neutral, it was important that we are not seen as an execution partner to one. We will execute with all the leading players. We are partner neutral but of course, Rakuten is one of our biggest partners.