Deshpande, who joined India’s sixth-largest information technology (IT) services company in November 2022 after the merger of Larsen and Toubro Infotech (LTI) and Mindtree, will be take charge as LTIMindtree’s president of global AI services, strategic deals and partnerships, Lambu said in a letter to associates, which Mint has seen.
“The evolution of the AI stack over the last 24 months is bringing software and services paradigms closer together, creating new frontiers of opportunities,” Lambu said in the letter.
“We must adopt a new playbook to win in this “New AI Economy.” This strategic appointment demonstrates our commitment to being a proactive, agile organisation, capitalizing on fast-emerging trends and reinforcing our position as an industry leader,” he added.
LTIMindtree has not yet disclosed this change to the stock exchanges and neither suggested a new COO.
The Mumbai-based company announced Lambu, formerly the CEO of Randstad Digital, as its CEO-designate late in January. He is expected to take over from Debashis Chatterjee, who led LTIMindree since its formation three years ago, for five years.
LTIMindtree confirmed the contents of Lambu’s letter but did not reply to other specific queries.
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The Lambu effect
Four other senior executives have left LTIMindtree this year.
Anshuman Singh, who was global head of interactive, left the company to take over as chief executive of Hinduja Global Solutions in January. Sudhir Chaturvedi, who was the president of global markets and was also a frontrunner to succeed Chatterjee, is now the chief growth officer of NTT Data Ltd.
Rohit Kedia stepped down as LTIMindtree’s chief growth officer in February to take over as chief executive of Xoriant. Vikash Gaur, LTIMindtree’s chief delivery officer, also stepped down in February.
The switch in Deshpande’s role comes at a time when CEO-designate Lambu is bringing about a raft of changes at LTIMindtree. The company’s primary focus is on profitable growth in 2025-26.
“LTIM is working on a 5-year plan. The aspiration is to grow significantly above growth rates of Tier 1 IT with an initial margin target of 17-18%,” Kotak Institutional Equities analysts Kawaljeet Saluja, Sathishkumar S., and Vamshi Krishna said in a note dated 11 March.
LTIMindtree ended the 12 months through March 2024 with $4.3 billion in revenue, up 4.4% on a yearly basis. But its operating margin fell 50 basis points to 15.7%.
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“LTIM will discontinue the role of Head of Sales. The key business leaders will directly report to the CEO. The CEO’s other direct reportees will include the CDO (chief delivery officer), Chief Growth Officer, CFO and other functional heads. LTIM will also refresh or strengthen leadership in some areas,” the Kotak analysts wrote in their report.
A second analyst said Lambu was not much different from Chatterjee.
“DC (Debashis Chatterjee) brought in this guy so there will not be a significant change in the way the company runs. The only difference is that Venu Lambu is more sales-oriented and the company will be more aggressive in terms of client conversations,” said a Mumbai-based analyst on condition of anonymity.
Both Lambu and Chatterjee worked at Nasdaq-listed Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. between 2012 and 2019, before reuniting in Mindtree a year later.
A focus on large deals
LTIMindtree intends to focus on large deals and may even set up a separate team to focus on this, according to the Kotak analysts, who had interacted with Lambu, outgoing CEO Chatterjee, and chief financial officer Vipul Chandra.
The focus on large deals comes as clients are narrowing their software vendors amid macroeconomic uncertainties and weak demand for non-essential tech work.
“The focus will be to increase win rates and participate smartly in RFPs (request for proposals, or initial bids for a project). US$50-100 mn TCV (total contract value) deals are a sweet spot. The focus is on US$100 mn+ deals,” said the Kotak analysts.
LTIMindtree had two clients fetching over $100 million in revenue annually as of December.
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LTIMindtree has also launched a ‘Fit For Future’ programme to boost operating margins by cutting excess costs pertaining to delivery and service, according to two executives, who declined to be identified.
India’s IT services industry is going through a churn amid prolonged global uncertainties, especially in the US, its biggest market.
Kotak Institutional Equities, JM Financial, Motilal Oswal, and Morgan Stanley have forecast a slower-than-anticipated growth for India’s $283 billion IT industry as concerns surrounding US tariffs and high lending rates could drag down investments in technology.
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