Tech Mahindra misses Q4FY24 estimates, to hire 6,000 freshers in FY25

Bengaluru: IT services major Tech Mahindra, on Thursday, reported a 40.9% year-on-year decline in its net profit during the fourth quarter of financial year 2023-24, led by weakness in the media and communications segment. For Q4, the company reported a net profit of Rs 661 crore, missing analyst estimates.

However, bucking the wider industry trend, the Pune-headquartered tech major announced that it will be going to campuses in the ongoing financial year (FY25) to recruit 6,000 freshers. “We are continuing on our path of absorbing 1,500-plus fresh graduates every quarter,” Managing Director and Chief Executive Mohit Joshi said.

It will train over 50,000 employees on artificial intelligence during the year, Joshi said in a post-earnings analyst conference call.

Tech Mahindra also laid out an ambitious roadmap involving structural growth, operational and organisational changes which will help the company surpass its peers’ average topline growth by financial year 2026-27.

Revenue during the quarter ended March 31 registered a 6.2% annual decline to Rs 12,871 crore, alongside a 2.4% dip in the full financial year at Rs 51,996 crore. Net new deal wins during the quarter amounted to $500 million. Net profit during the full financial year saw a 51.2% fall to Rs 4,965 crore.

“From a sectoral perspective, our communication business declined year-on-year by 12.4% driven by macro trends and some one time revenue we saw last year,” Chief Financial Officer Rohit Anand said in the post earnings press conference.

The results notwithstanding, Tech Mahindra is bullish on business in FY25. “We are now very confident that Q4 marks the low point in our year-to-year growth trajectory, which means that we are confident that from Q1 onwards we will start to see improvement in our year-on-year performance,” Joshi said.

The company’s board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 28 per share, which once approved will take the total to Rs 40 apiece for the year. 

In Q4FY24, headcount declined by 795 sequentially to 1,45,455. The utilisation rate stood at 86% while attrition remained unchanged at 10% quarter-on-quarter.