NTT India sets USD 1 bn revenue target in two years

PTI, Dec 8, 2019, 4:08 PM IST

Mumbai: Japanese technology major NTT has set a target of crossing the USD 1 billion revenue target in the next two years from its India operations.

This means that the company that has been growing at an average of 18 percent in topline income for the past eight years will have to ensure a better run rate in revenue growth, a top official has said.

Currently, the overall India revenue of the company, which announced the integration of all businesses into a single entity recently, is over Rs 5,000 crore (over USD 700 million), according to the official.

Though 28 companies have been integrated under a single brand, NTT derives as much as 90 percent of the revenue from system integration (erstwhile Dimension Data) and data centers (Netmagic).

“We want to focus more on the domestic business opportunity and grow the business to make it a USD 1-billion (over Rs 7,100 crore) business in the next two years,” Chief Executive Officer (South Asia) Kiran Bhagwanani told PTI in a recent interaction.

He admitted that given the shape of the domestic economy, this is a tough task but said NTT’s first focus will be to protect the average revenue and profit growth and then take it northward.

Bhagwanani said the key focus will be Japan-related businesses pointing out that projects like the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor and other dedicated corridors in the south part-funded by Japan, as also Japanese companies’ investments in India are untapped areas.

Along with it, the “ballooning” data center market also presents an opportunity for high growth, he said, choosing not to reply to questions on increased competition from domestic players like Adani Enterprises, which has plans of investing over Rs 70,000 crore into the segment.

Currently, a bulk of the system integration revenue is derived from the finance and manufacturing companies, making the Indo-Japan trade-linked area as untapped potential, he said.

Bhagwanani said it is indeed difficult to do business with government entities due to oft-repeated concerns like payment schedules but added that this line contributes less than 2 percent to its revenue.

To drive home the point, he said the company has delivered profit as expected for the past 28 quarters consecutively.

He hoped NTT’s solutions on agriculture, mobility, and the ‘smart world’ initiative will also gain traction as it implements the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Smart Cities’ programs.

NTT India employs 6,500 and will continue to add people at the rate of 15 percent per annum despite the progress done on automation, he said.

Bhagwanani said the company is a “net job creator” in India and that if one were to consider the strength of its workforce which is delivering services to global units from India, the staff strength is over 32,000 people.

When asked about the telecom venture Docomo and about the payments due as part of the adjusted gross revenue ruling of the Supreme Court, Bhagwanani said that this is beyond his company’s remit as it is an investment by a different group entity.