You exceeded your hiring guideline this financial year; you are also ramping up hiring in the next year. What is the trigger?Our present hiring plans are based on our past experiences. Last year, we had to ramp up hiring during the middle of the year due to higher demand. A record number of 43,000 were hired, which is way above our guidance of 20,000. So, we have decided to hire higher number of people, as we want to cash-in on the emerging opportunities in this sector and a sound bench strength can enable us to do that.Don’t you think it will impact the margin? We have projected the decline in margin due to higher number of hiring during the current financial year. However, we have taken into account the demand environment, and are of the opinion that this is a risk worth taking.Which verticals will do well for you in the medium term?I think large verticals such as manufacturing, BFSI,fake bags, retail will do well in the short term. However, verticals such as public service, energy, health care will do well in the medium term as they are in an investment phase.At the beginning of the fourth quarter, you said it was going to be a normal one, but the numbers are not encouraging. Did you go wrong anywhere? If you see our client addition and the number of large contracts we bagged in the last financial year, these are aligned to our expectations. So,[url=http://www.lovebagstore.com]fake bags, we consider this a normal year. Sometimes,[url=http://www.lovebagstore.com]fake bags, there are demand fluctuations in the industry, which is normal. Fortunately, we expected this quarter to be a slow quarter and it proved to be so.Infosys Technologies on Friday announced its annual results amid news about the resignation of two of its board members. The numbers are as expected by the company, says CEO & MD S Gopalakrishnan. In an interview to Bibhu Ranjan Mishra and Debasis Mohapatra, he says the fourth quarter proved to be a slow one as was expected. The company is, however, upbeat on the emerging opportunities to improve margins and volume. Edited excerpts:Is there a strategic shift happening in the company with more focus on volume growth than margin? We want to grow and grow profitably. Our focus on margin will continue. If you look at our guidance, there is a 300 basis points (bps) decline in the margin. This is primarily due to an appreciating rupee and lower utilisation rate. Our estimation is that there will be 100 bps impact on margin due to the appreciating rupee. Further, lower utilisation rate due to higher number of hiring will affect margin. For example, we have hired around 8,500 people in the fourth quarter and are planning to hire another 45,000 this year. So, our bench strength will be higher to cash in any emerging opportunity.Your volume this quarter dropped by 1.4 per cent. Do you expect this to decline further?No. We expected the volume growth to be slow in this quarter. So, less volume growth didn’t surprise us. In the future, volumes will pick up.Your utilisation rate in the fourth quarter has already dropped to 68.4 per cent, and more number of trainees may affect this…As we continue to grow, this (drop in utilisation) will not happen. But, if we do not hire, we will not be able to take the full advantage of the emerging demands and can’t take a view for a quarter. We have to anticipate things and act accordingly.Revenues from the US and Europe have declined during this quarter. How should one read it?We should not take a short-term view of these things. If you compare things annually, there is sound growth in these geographies.
