Are you happy with the kind of numbers we have clocked in in terms of GDP, 8.8%, in line with street estimates?
Yes, these are great numbers as expected because if you look at globally, there are very few pockets of growth and India is one economy growing at 8% to 9% and 8.8 is what people are expecting. Some of them are expecting close to 9. So these are great numbers.
Most people say that services are bit of a black box for the next couple of quarters as well. It came in at 9.7% in Q4 of course. How do you expect services to pan out because most people are bullish about agriculture, not too bullish about industry. What about services?
Growth is possible, but you have to look at the global indicators also because if you look at globally, all the leading data from the US are too negative, so also Europe. So to that extent if something drastic happens in the global economy, it could impact growth in India also, but looking at what it is today, India has got a better chance of achieving that growth because monsoon has been good till now. So agricultural growth will be there. India has got a better chance of achieving something between 8.5% and 9%.
At the end of Q1, you guys were cautiously optimistic, if I can put it that way, with regards to the European and US situation, at this point of time when you are talking to your clients, are you sensing nervousness of any sort which could have a bit of an impact on services growth overall?
Till now, things are good. We are seeing growth coming in but if you look at all the leading indicators from all the large markets, they are too negative. So we have to keep a close eye on that because if the sentiments are bad, it could affect the budgets for IT next year. So we have to balance between the short term optimism and the long term concern that is what we are doing. We are still hiring people, we are still focussing on growth, we are seeing a lot of volume growth coming in, but if the environment continues to deteriorate like this, probably it could impact the budgets for next year & the growth.
Just wanted to know from you what is your ballpark growth numbers for the service sector within the entire fiscal and any particular dampener or any particular situation can actually hamper this growth projection that you have for yourself?
Service sector will do well, probably manufacturing sector is something we have to watch out what is happening globally. So the trend we saw in the services sector in the last few quarters could continue.
