PERSISTENCE IN EVERY LAP

PERSISTENT'S NEW-FOUND AGGRESSION IS YIELDING FAVOURABLE RESULTS, BOTH IN REVENUE AND PROFIT NUMBERS.

- BY RUKMINI RAO

BEING A sports enthusiast, it is only natural for Sandeep Kalra, CEO of Persistent Systems, to liken the current global uncertainties to the twists and turns of a Formula 1 race. “People don’t win the race when they are going straight. You win the race over the bends. Your skill comes in navigating those bends and overtaking others at those bends. Everyone can drive fast in a straight line,” he says.

His company, Persistent Systems, is living proof. The bends, or the business uncertainties, prompted the IT major to outpace its peers in growth. In FY25, when the industry saw moderate, low single-digit growth—Persistent logged an 18.8% YoY rise in dollar revenues to $1.4 billion, from $1.2 billion in FY24, all while navigating the twists of AI advancements, a new team at the White House, and the challenges stemming thereof. Profits, meanwhile, registered a 3-year CAGR of 26.6% (FY22-25) in rupee terms.

“I’m confident [that] whether it’s our customers or us, the people who take bold decisions, who give their best, will emerge as winners,” Kalra says.

For a sector reeling under the uncertain macro environment, cost take out and vendor consolidation projects have been holding up growth. Notably, AI infusion in deals has become mainstream. For the Pune-headquartered firm, AI is a big part of the strategy to counter headwinds in both renewals and new deals. Instilling data readiness among customers for AI-related deployments has been integral, Kalra explains. It is also an area where larger programmes and projects are anticipated. “We are dealing with Fortune 500 and even mid-market companies to get them ready to adopt AI from a data infrastructure readiness perspective.”