Business
Wipro management confident of execution-led growth despite cautious client spending
Responding to ET Now on the company’s Q4 revenue guidance of $2.63 billion to $2.68 billion, which implies flat to low single-digit sequential growth, CEO Srini Pallia said the broader demand environment continues to be shaped by vendor consolidation and increasing adoption of AI-led programmes.
“So, if you look at demand from year 2025 to 2026, the theme of vendor consolidation clearly continues, and that is something that we will stay focused on. There are a lot of opportunities for us on the run and operate aspect of it, and most of these now are going to be AI-first, AI-led,” Pallia said.
He added that discretionary spending remains under watch, with January being a crucial month as clients finalise budgets for the year ahead. “But net-net, the opportunities around AI, which are actually driving a lot more advisory services around data, security and change management, as well as AI rewrites and clients reimagining their own processes leveraging AI, are all part of the pipeline. This is secular across sectors and across market units. So, net-net, the positive momentum on the pipeline continues, and our focus now is to execute and win those deals.”
On deal wins, Wipro reported total bookings of $3.3 billion for the quarter. Pallia said AI is now embedded across the entire pipeline, following the launch of Wipro Intelligence, which includes delivery platforms WINGS and WEGA.
“So, the way we look at the pipeline today is that every opportunity in our pipeline will be AI-first and AI-led,” he said. “If it is run and operate, we use WINGS, which covers application support, infrastructure support and business processes. For software development, whether build or transform, WEGA will be the tool we use across the spectrum. I would say from a pipeline perspective, all opportunities will be AI-first and centred around AI. You cannot do any project anymore without having AI as a strategy for executing.”
On profitability, CFO Aparna Iyer said the company’s operating margin of 17.6%, among the strongest in several quarters, reflects consistent execution improvements across multiple levers.“We have been consistently improving our operating margins over the last eight quarters or so, and full credit goes to the entire team for the execution rigour all around,” Iyer said. “We have improved profitability in our fixed-price programmes, improved utilisation and optimised SG&A. Our acquired entities have also rallied and done a good job.”
She noted that the improvement has come despite a weak revenue environment and intense competition. Forex movements also aided margins on a sequential basis, although the consolidation of the Harman DTS acquisition had a dilutive impact. “We have two additional months coming up in quarter four. We will have to make good for that and continue to be resilient,” she added.
On margin sustainability, Iyer said, “If you look at our track record and the credibility we have built, our endeavour is always to maintain margins in a narrow band, and we will try to keep them within the range delivered over the last few quarters.”
Addressing labour code-related provisions, Chief Human Resources Officer Saurabh Govil said the company has taken a charge of about $34.5 million, largely related to gratuity provisions following recent clarifications.
“This is basically a provision on gratuity for the percentage basic on a 50% calculation, effective November 21. For leave encashment, we were already above 50%, so there was no requirement,” Govil said, adding that Wipro had been preparing for the changes over several years, resulting in a relatively limited impact compared with peers.
On hiring, Govil said campus hiring was muted this quarter. “We had earlier indicated about 10,000 fresher hires for FY26. Given our plans, we will likely land around 7,500 to 8,000,” he said, while adding that lateral hiring would continue based on skill and project demand, particularly in areas such as data, SAP and engineering. Attrition, he noted, has declined sharply, falling by about 2% quarter-on-quarter.
Finally, on business conditions in BFSI and North America, Pallia acknowledged ongoing uncertainty but said cost optimisation and vendor consolidation efforts are creating room for future discretionary spending.
“The main reason clients are doing this is to improve their cost structures so that they can position themselves for more discretionary spend, which then translates into more AI projects, whether it is reimagining through AI, modernisation, building SLMs, data curation or model building,” he said.
Overall, Wipro’s leadership believes the pipeline remains structurally strong, anchored by AI-led transformation, even as near-term revenue growth remains cautious and execution-focused.
