WRITING THE GROWTH CODE

Under new boss Mohit Joshi, Tech Mahindra is drawing up an interesting growth story. But there are numerous challenges

- KRISHNA GOPALAN

IT IS WELL AFTER 9 PM, and Mohit Joshi has had a long day. His company, Tech Mahindra, has just declared its quarterly numbers, and he has a flight to Singapore the next day. Based in London, Joshi is described by his employer as a “road warrior” and has a hectic travel schedule worldwide. 

As he settles into a hotel meeting room near Mumbai’s international airport for a working dinner, Joshi, the company’s CEO & MD, is chatty. He fields questions on challenges for the $6.5-billion Tech Mahindra, an IT services and solutions company that has been around for over three decades, and his optimism about artificial intelligence (AI). He is acutely aware of the advantage of being part of a conglomerate and will use that strategically. At the same time, there is pressure to increase margins to keep up with its rivals. By any yardstick, these are difficult times to be in the IT business. But Tech Mahindra could find them most interesting if it gets a few things right and executes them well.

MOVING IN

Joshi is no stranger to impressive growth. When he joined Infosys in late 2000, it was a $180-million company; when he quit as President in mid-2023, its turnover was $18 billion. When Tech Mahindra’s offer came, Joshi believed it was the right size at $6.5 billion. “With 150,000 people, it was large enough to have a global impact. It had a good mix of service lines, industries, and geographies,” says Joshi.

The soft-spoken Joshi, a history graduate with an MBA, plays down his recruitment as very straightforward. C.P. Gurnani was due to retire after 19 years at Tech Mahindra’s helm, and global executive search firm Spencer Stuart was mandated to look for candidates within and outside the organization. “There was a grand total of two discussions before I was picked. I liked the client base, talent, and the group,” says Joshi.