A BIG DEAL

The high-profile merger between IT majors L&T Infotech and Mindtree to create LTIMindtree has ensured that the merged entity gets a seat at the big table. It competes with the Big Boys of the Indian IT arena now

- Ashish Rukhaiyar

THE MEGA MERGER BETWEEN the erstwhile IT majors Mindtree and Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI) was announced in May 2022; its significance for the diversified multinational conglomerate L&T was visible from the fact that none other than then LTI Chairman A.M. Naik and Vice Chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan announced the merger, addressed the media, and took on the barrage of questions.

The two listed entities started operating as a single merged company-now the fifth-largest IT services firm in the country-from November 14, 2022. However, the seeds of the merger were sown much earlier. They had been working together on several deals even before the merger.

It was the pandemic that pushed the clock back. "If Covid-19 had not happened, then the merger of LTI and Mindtree would have happened earlier. The first criterion was that none of the companies should be leaning on each other," says CEO & MD Debashis Chatterjee.

During the pandemic, both LTI and Mindtree were affected, with Mindtree experiencing a greater impact due to its reliance on the travel and hospitality sectors, which accounted for 17-18% of its revenue. This was a major factor behind the delay in announcing the merger.

"All credit goes to A.M. Naik and SNS [S.N. Subrahmanyan] for envisioning when the two companies should be brought together. And the vision was that the two companies can come together only when both are performing well in their own ways, rather than trying to time the market," says Chatterjee, who was the CEO & MD of Mindtree when the merger was announced.