Digital
Persistent sustains growth momentum, revenue up by 17.1 per cent Y-o-Y, 3.0 per cent Q-o-Q
Mumbai: The 33rd Annual General Meeting of the Company was held on 18 July, 2023. All the resolutions, including a final dividend payment of Rs 12 per share and a special dividend of Rs 10 per share on achieving $1 Billion in annual revenue, were passed with the requisite majority. This makes the total dividend for FY23 to be Rs 50 per share as compared to Rs 31 per share for FY22.
Consolidated Financial Highlights for the Quarter ended June 30, 2023:
* In Q1FY24, there was a one-time expense towards client events and employee gifts on account of achieving the $1B revenue milestone. Adjusted for this, PAT margin was 11.4% for Q1FY24, with Q-o-Q growth of 5.4% and Y-o-Y growth of 25.2%.
Persistent CEO & executive director Sandeep Kalra said, “We commenced the year by celebrating a significant milestone of surpassing $1 billion in annual revenue with our clients, partners, and team members. As we enter our new fiscal year, I’m pleased to share that we have sustained our growth momentum despite the challenging macroeconomic conditions. Our Digital Engineering leadership, extensive experience across key industries, curated partner ecosystem, and the ability to stay ahead of disruptive technology trends has led to our ongoing success.
We also want to extend our warm welcome to Dr. Ajit Ranade, a renowned academician, corporate executive, economist, and thought leader, as an Independent Director to our Board. He will bring his impressive experience of 32+ years to help guide our strategy and accelerate our growth journey.”
First Quarter FY24 Client Wins and Outcomes
The order booking for the quarter ended on 30 June, 2023, was at $380.3 million in Total Contract Value (TCV) and at $271.9 million in Annual Contract Value (ACV) terms.
Some of the key wins for the quarter include:
Software, Hi-Tech & Emerging Industries
- Establishing a software lab to engineer new products and enhance existing products for a leading SaaS provider related to customer support, sales, and other customer communications.
- Providing engineering services and support of Network Services Orchestration (NSO) platform for a multinational digital communications conglomerate.
- Developing Generative AI proofs of concept and building database connectors for serverless data integration for a multinational technology company.
Banking, Financial Services & Insurance
- Driving digital transformation for customer acquisition and service, along with sales and marketing automation platforms for the financial services arm of a Fortune 500 automobile company.
- Supporting application migration and providing managed services to ensure seamless integration of an acquired automation platform for a leading US-based financial software company.
- Developing a Data Science platform for Risk Management, Identity Access Management and Regulatory/compliance applications for a leading corporate investment banking services provider.
Healthcare & Life Sciences
- Engineering Data and Machine Learning platforms and accelerating product capabilities to drive an innovation roadmap for a multinational managed healthcare and insurance company.
- Building and managing a Unified Data Platform encompassing analytics for sales inventory, sales order pipeline etc. for a European multinational medical equipment manufacturing firm.
- Engineering platforms for data curation, analytics, and laboratory management and migrating data lake to the cloud for a leading molecular diagnostics company in the space of early-stage cancer detection.
News in the Quarter
- Persistent Expands Relationship with AWS to Adopt Amazon CodeWhisperer
- Persistent Unveils New Global Hub in Texas for Private Equity Value Creation
- Persistent Inaugurates New Office in Poland to Expand Footprint in Europe
- Forbes: Persistent Systems: Balancing Culture and Values with Rapid Growth, featuring Sandeep Kalra
- The Times of India: Persistent Systems Positive on Generative AI-led Growth, featuring Sandeep Kalra
- The Stack: Tech services firm Persistent is rolling out an AI coding companion to 16,000 engineers. Its CTO recognises the risk, featuring Pandurang Kamat
Awards and Recognitions
- Sandeep Kalra recognized as the Best CEO in the IT and ITeS category by Business Today
- Persistent named the fastest-growing IT Services brand in India in the Brand Finance India 100 2023 report
- Persistent recognized as a Leader in Everest Group’s Payments IT Services PEAK Matrix Assessment 2023
- Persistent featured in Everest Group’s 2023 PEAK Matrix Service Provider of the Year awards under the Top 10 ITS Challengers list
- Persistent named a Leader in ISG Provider Lens Digital Engineering Services Quadrants U.S. 2023
- Persistent named a Leader in the Salesforce Ecosystem Partners 2023 ISG Provider Lens Study
Digital
OpenAI’s Stargate lead Peter Hoeschele exits with two senior leaders
Trio behind compute push set to join new startup amid leadership reshuffle
SAN FRANCISCO: Peter Hoeschele, a key figure behind OpenAI’s early Stargate data centre initiative, has exited the company, according to a report by The Information.
The departure is part of a broader leadership shift, with two other senior executives, Shamez Hemani and Anuj Saharan, also set to leave in the coming days. All three are expected to join the same new startup, although details about the venture remain under wraps.
The trio played a central role in OpenAI’s Stargate effort, an initiative aimed at building large-scale data centre capacity in-house to reduce reliance on external infrastructure providers. Their exits mark a notable moment for the company’s compute strategy as it continues to scale rapidly.
OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement to The Information, “We’re grateful for the contributions Peter, Shamez, and Anuj have made to OpenAI and wish them the very best in what comes next.” The company also pointed to the recent appointment of Sachin Katti to lead its industrial compute organisation, signalling continuity in its infrastructure roadmap.
OpenAI has indicated that it does not plan to directly replace Hoeschele’s role, suggesting a possible restructuring of responsibilities within the team.
As competition intensifies in the race to build next-generation AI systems, leadership changes in core infrastructure teams are likely to draw close attention. For now, the spotlight shifts to what this departing trio builds next, and how OpenAI adapts as it scales its ambitions.
