Happiest Minds revenue up 17.5% YoY | Bengaluru News
Bengaluru: Happiest Minds’ revenue grew 2.3% sequentially and 17.5% year-on-year in constant currency, despite macroeconomic uncertainties and a cautious approach to spending by clients. Ashok Soota, chairman and chief mentor, said, “Our strong start to Q1 FY26 underscores the continued confidence our customers place in us and the impact of our differentiated digital capabilities. With a sharp focus on mindful execution, customer-centricity, and technology leadership, we are well-positioned to sustain double-digit growth for the year and have laid a foundation for achieving three consecutive years of double-digit growth.”Despite these changes, the company remains optimistic about demand prospects in the second half. “Our growth is entirely organic,” said MD Venkatraman Narayanan. He reaffirmed the margin guidance of 17%–18.5%, adding, “We are in a good place right now.” Amid ongoing churn in the IT services sector, Happiest Minds’ headcount declined by 109 to 6,523 employees, due to a combination of layoffs and voluntary attrition. “People who haven’t been deployed for long and show no alignment with evolving skill needs often exit through a mutually agreed transition,” Narayanan said.Happiest Minds’ attrition rose to 18.2% in the June quarter compared to 16.6% in the preceding quarter. “We’re getting more revenue with a lower headcount. We’re leveraging automation tools across our engineering lifecycle—be it Copilot, Gemini, or others.These tools are seen as augmenting the team’s efforts, enabling them to focus on higher-value tasks, propose new features, explore innovative approaches, and accelerate the product roadmap,” said its chairman, Joseph Anantharaju. The drive for higher productivity comes as the company gains momentum in its GenAI-led business services unit, which has now reached break-even. According to executives, AI-driven projects are fuelling demand across areas like data integration, UI/UX, and digital transformation—necessitating new skill sets. When it comes to hiring freshers, the company is steering clear of large-scale campus recruitment this year. Instead, it is pursuing targeted off-campus hiring aligned with business needs, particularly for roles in embedded systems and hardware-related roles. “We want freshers to come in with specific skills from day one,” Anantharaju said. While hikes are on the cards, Narayanan acknowledged they are still being deliberated and will be rolled out in a phased, segment-wise manner later this quarter.
