MAM
Digital signage to be on a bull run
BANGALORE: The digital signage market (DSM) in India, which is at a nascent stage with a size of about Rs.500 million annually, is expected to grow by about 300 to 400 per cent by the end of next year with the rebound of the global economy, according to a number of DSM players at the ‘Expert Tour‘ on Digital Signage organised by Emarson IT Solutions (EITS) in partnership with global DSM player Minicom Advanced Systems.
The road show was aimed to educate various industry participants such as co-vendors, partners, integrators and customers about what digital signage (DS) is and how it can be absorbed into various industries such as banking, transportation , hospitality, retail and OOH.
Organised retail is the biggest user of DS in India as well as globally. The market is catching up with static signage (bill boards, etc.) and will soon overtake it, say DSM pundits.
EITS co-founder and CEO Prateek Jaswant claims, “The out-of-home sector will be the only traditional advertising media to post real revenue growth during the next five years. The growth will be driven by the migration to digital and the incremental revenues generated from digital sites. Also, one of the major growth drivers of digital signage is the advancement in technology which has helped retailers, marketing and entertainment companies, and many other organisations to ‘narrowcast‘ dynamic video, graphical and editorial content on hundreds, or even thousands, of digital signage displays located virtually anywhere.”
Being a new industry in India and globally, a lot needs to done to help the industry grow even further. One of the challenges it faces is convincing the real estate owners to permit placing DS in their premises.
Another key factor is television content. While a viewer watches television for the sake of entertainment or news or knowledge, in the case of DS the message has to be short and loud to catch the attention of a viewer who could be a shopper in a store. Many advertisers and creative teams create content for in-store DS that is more suitable for television and include a lot of audio or just run television ads with or without audio. At present, DS is more of a visual than an audio-visual medium.
Most advertisers fear that DS calls for a lot of content to be created since in-store situations change over very short periods of time (even hourly) and hence could be expensive, says Scala Inc senior software developer Jahan T Kadhar. “You could run the same ad over and over in the background with just change in the text message, which is possible to render using current technology.”
Driving more than 300,000 screens worldwide, Scala is a global provider of digital signage and advertising management solutions that offers a platform for content creation, management and distribution in digital signage networks and for advertising management of both traditional and digital signage networks.
Selling DS by itself is another challenge, since it is not a part of most media planners who look at just Digital OOH. A number of media sellers also perceive DS as competition.
Capex and total cost of ownership (TCO) is not easily understood and there is no proven or standard return of investment (ROI) matrix for DS. The market lacks other indicators such as measure of reach. Neither the efficiency and efficacy measurement standards of DS are available. “We all know that it‘s working but have no way of proving it,” says Minicom Digital Signage CEO Ronni Guggenheim.
Over 400,000 screens worldwide are using Minicom technology . “When measurability matrices were started for other mediums such as television and cinema, revenues of these mediums increased. We are at the same stage that television was in 1996 or cinema was in 2003,” adds Guggenheim.
The market is fragmented with a number of players with a small number of screens. “There have been times when we have had to send people to various places where we have deployed screens to check physically if they are working or not. Due to bad connectivity, I‘ve had to send the new ad clips on pen drives to various locations in my network,” says Tag Media Network President and CEO P R Sateesh.
Brands
Wipro hires 7,500 freshers, withholds FY27 hiring outlook
Profit rises to Rs 3,522 crore, Rs 15,000 crore buyback announced.
MUMBAI- Hiring may be on, but visibility is off, Wipro is adding talent even as it pauses the crystal ball. The company hired 7,500 freshers in FY26 but stopped short of offering any hiring outlook for FY27, underscoring the uncertainty gripping the IT services sector as it pivots towards an AI-led operating model.
The disclosure came alongside its fourth-quarter earnings, where management flagged volatile demand conditions and refrained from committing to future workforce expansion. Chief human resources officer Saurabh Govil noted that over 3,000 of the total hires were onboarded in the March quarter alone, signalling continued intake despite a lack of clarity on deployment pipelines.
This divergence active hiring without forward guidance reflects a broader industry pattern where talent acquisition continues even as deal conversions remain uneven and client spending cycles stretch. Wipro expects its IT services revenue for the June quarter to range between a decline of 2 per cent and flat growth sequentially in constant currency terms, reinforcing near-term caution.
Chief executive officer Srini Pallia pointed to artificial intelligence as both a disruptor and an opportunity. He said evolving client priorities are pushing the company towards outcome-driven engagements, with Wipro increasingly focusing on a services-as-software model through its AI Native Business and Platforms unit. The shift marks a structural change from traditional headcount-led growth to AI-enabled delivery frameworks.
The company has already committed over $1 billion to its AI ecosystem, with investors closely watching how these investments translate into revenue. For now, the numbers present a mixed picture. Net profit rose sequentially to Rs 3,522 crore, while revenue grew 3 per cent to Rs 24,236 crore. However, core IT services performance remained under pressure, with full-year revenue declining 0.3 per cent in dollar terms and 1.6 per cent in constant currency.
Large deal bookings offered a counterpoint, rising 45.4 per cent year-on-year to $7.8 billion, highlighting a widening gap between deal wins and actual revenue realisation. On a quarterly basis, IT services revenue slipped 1.2 per cent sequentially, signalling continued softness in execution.
Margins, however, told a more optimistic story. Operating margins expanded to 17.3 per cent in the fourth quarter, up from 14.8 per cent in the previous quarter, reflecting improved cost discipline. That said, the company cautioned that upcoming wage hikes and the ramp-up of large deals could exert pressure going forward.
Attrition stood at 13.8 per cent in the March quarter, indicating stabilisation after periods of elevated churn. Alongside its earnings, Wipro also announced a Rs 15,000 crore share buyback, reinforcing its focus on shareholder returns, with a payout ratio of 88 per cent over the past three years.
Taken together, the numbers capture a company in transition investing in AI, maintaining hiring momentum, but navigating a demand environment where growth is uneven and visibility remains limited.
