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Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the NIIT Technologies Q3 FY 2019 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Abhinandan Singh, Head, Investor Relations and M&A, NIIT Technologies. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good afternoon, and welcome everyone to our Q3 FY 2019 Earnings Conference Call. You will already have received our email with the results. The same is also available on our website, www.niit-tech.com. Present along with me today on this call are Mr. Rajendra S. Pawar, our Chairman; Mr. Arvind Thakur, our Vice Chairman and Managing Director; Mr. Sudhir Singh, our CEO; and Mr. Sanjay Mal, our CFO. As usual, we'll begin today's program with opening remarks by our CEO, Mr. Sudhir Singh, and after that, the floor will be open for your questions. With that, I would now like to hand over the floor to Sudhir.
Thank you, Abhinandan, and a very good evening and a very good morning, to all of you, folks. At the outset, I just need to let you know that I have bad throat infection today so if in the course of this conversation I struggle to get words across, I will hand the mic over to our Vice Chairman and MD, Mr. Thakur. So with that preamble, let's move on. We are very pleased to share that revenues have expanded 7.1% quarter-on-quarter and they've grown 28.5% over the same quarter last year to INR 9,717 million. Sequential quarter-on-quarter growth in constant currency is 4.2%. We are equally pleased to report that operating profit stand at INR 1,805 million for the quarter, representing a sequential growth of 10.4% and an improvement of 39.4% over the same quarter last year. These robust growth numbers in both revenue and profits come in what is regarded as a seasonally weak quarter, they have also been realized in a quarter where the preceding quarter, in turn, had shown a sequential revenue growth of 10%. This is now the sixth consecutive quarter of sustained growth across the business, accompanied by an improvement in almost all operating metrics. We see this as continued validation of our efforts to build a best-in-class operating model based on robust, predictable and sustainable growth. I'll move on to revenue analysis now. The revenue growth continues to be broad based and sustained. Insurance grew 9.8% quarter-on-quarter, contributing to 29.6% of the revenue. Travel & Transport was up 5.4% quarter-on-quarter, contributing to 26.5% of revenue. BFS expanded 1.7% quarter-on-quarter, contributing to 15.4% of revenue. Other segments collectively expanded 8.9% quarter-on-quarter and they now represent 28.5% of overall revenues. The geo-based growth cuts also shows sustained growth. Americas, which contributes to 49% of our total revenues, grew by 5.9%. This growth in the Americas came on the back of growth in the travel and insurance verticals. EMEA revenues expanded 4.7% sequentially and they now represent 33% of revenue mix. The expansion in revenues in EMEA was on account of growth in travel, insurance, digital, new generation infrastructure services including cloud services. Furthermore, APAC, which contributes 9% to the firm's total revenues continues to be at 9%. India contributed 9% to the firm's total revenue and expanded by 26.6% on the back of improved GIS business. The top 5 clients now contribute 28% of the total revenue and the top 10 and the top 20 contribute 40% and 54% of the total revenue, respectively. Broad-based growth is further supported by the number of million-dollar-plus clients, which has expanded to 90 this quarter from 88 last quarter. This number compares to 78 in Q3 of last year. Let's roll on to margin analysis. Operating margin has increased by 56 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 18.6% for the quarter. Constant currency margins improved quarter-on-quarter by 30 basis points. Operating margins have increased by 145 basis points over the same period last year. This material and sustainable jump in margins was driven by growth across almost all verticals, continued and intense focus on operations and SG&A cost containment. The comprehensive automation and productivity improvement framework and toolset rollout across the delivery factory continues to be guided by a newly constituted delivery [indiscernible]. We continue to drive AI-based and tool-based automation and monitoring frameworks across our delivery factory. Net profits for the quarter are INR 1,002 million, up 32.6% year-on-year and down 10.3% quarter-on-quarter on account of your other income and increased effective tax rate. Effective tax rate during quarter went up by 6% over the previous quarter due to tax on dividend from foreign subsidiary. It stood at 29.7% as against 23.7% in the previous quarter. Excluding this onetime tax, ETR stood at 24.2%. Order intake. The pipeline continues to improve and this has been the seventh consecutive quarter of increase in order intake numbers. We secured fresh business of USD 165 million during the quarter. Out of this USD 165 million order intake during this quarter, USD 96 million came from the U.S.; USD 42 million came from EMEA; and USD 27 million come from ROW, Rest of the World. The trend line of order intake starting from Q1 of last year for 7 successive quarters now reads as USD 110 million followed by USD 122 million, USD 130 million, USD 145 million, USD 151 million, USD 160 million, and now, USD 165 million, respectively. Ten new customers were added during the quarter, 8 in the U.S.A. and 2 in Rest of the World. You will notice that over the last 4 quarters, we have doubled the rate of new logo activation per quarter. The firm recorded 2 $20 million-plus large deals. The first one was a mandate for recently acquired client to create an on-demand, cloud-based operating environment and platform rollout for a specialty insurance firm. The other one came from our largest BFS customer for creating an offshore factory to drive enhancements and rollouts of their core securities processing platform. In line with the trend over the last 7 quarters, order book executable over the next 12 months continues to expand and it now stands at USD 375 million. Quick comments on delivery. Our delivery factory and the relatively newer transformation consulting team continues to incubate capabilities at the intersection of our 3 focus industry verticals and emerging technologies. Our success in the market continues to be shaped by leading with domain consultants, tech architects and SME pools who showcase real-life impact based on POCs and demos across the industry sub-segments we focus on. Illustratively, in this quarter, we completed the rollout of an end-to-end airport cargo operation handling product across 9 airports. We initiated the process construction and technical architecture redesign for adapting on-demand implementation, infused AI-based automation in the infra stack of a leading European train service and we conducted a full-scale workshop to incubate an asset transfer utility for the capital markets industry. In addition, we helped an insurance major company in the migration of 5 different data centers to the cloud and delivered cloud-based orchestration using the Kubernetes framework for an insurance client. The very significant investments we have made in creating a domain consulting engine in the past few quarters in our attempts to align them with our digital capabilities to drive impact is now bearing fruit at an accelerated pace. Closing on the people metrics now. Total headcount at the end of the quarter was 10,144. There was an increase in headcount by 119 during the quarter. Utilization during the quarter stood at 79%. Attrition stood at 11.7% and it continues to be one of the lowest across the industry. In the past few quarters, we have shared details of the focused lateral Tier 1 leadership hiring that we have done. As noted earlier, these leaders have settled in well and taken effective control of their portfolios. In the recent quarter, we added a digital head for North America who comes in with 2.5 decades of experience of the U.S. market and a travel head for the Europe business who joined us from Capgem. Earlier this week, we had [ Vamsi Krishna ] who was a Managing Director at Accenture join us as the EVP and Head of our Infrastructure Management Server business. Moving on to balance sheet chief metrics now. Cash and bank balances stood at INR 8,260 million, an increase of INR 704 million over the previous quarter and an increase of INR 1,354 million over the previous year. CapEx spend during the quarter was INR 130 million. Days sales at the end of the [Audio Gap] 69 days of sales outstanding [Technical Difficulty]
Participants, thank you for patiently holding your lines. We have the line for the management reconnected. Over to you, sir.
Thank you. I believe we lost the line when we were talking about the days sales situation. Days sales at the end of the quarter stood at 69 days sales outstanding. Last quarter, this number was 73 days. Quick commentary on the hedge position. Outstanding hedges in USD are USD 66.11 million at an average rate of INR 71.56 to the dollar -- U.S. dollar. In pounds, we have GBP 13.05 million outstanding at INR 96.13 to the pound. And in euro, it is EUR 4.5 million, EUR 4.5 million at INR 86.19 to the euro. Finally, the outlook. Last quarter, we had indicated that we will continue to expand our revenues on a Q-on-Q basis. As noticed and as noted, we have delivered a strong Q-o-Q performance with our business locking robust growth and improvement across all operating parameters year-to-date. As we look forward to Q4, we expect growth to continue and margins to be maintained given our strong deal pipeline. As we have noted last quarter, our confidence in our plans is borne out of multiple factors. They include the sustained deal flow, the impact that the transformation engine is creating, the number of large deals in the hopper, the broad-based nature of growth across our portfolio of businesses, the growth that both the hunting and mining engines are creating and the traction that our newer capability vectors like cloud, core digital, PSV revenues, data services and cognitive offerings are recording. At the beginning of the current fiscal year, we had shared plans to grow at least double digit in constant currency organic terms. Against those plans, you will notice from these Q3 results that we now stand at 17.8% revenue growth in constant currency organic terms. In reported terms, we stand at 23% revenue growth YTD. Our operating margins have continued to climb and are now at 18.6%. All this has been accompanied by the seventh consecutive quarter of order intake and order executable increase, continued ramp-up of the digital business, decrease in DSO and one of the lowest levels of attrition across the industry. With these opening remarks, I look forward to addressing your questions. Thank you very much.
[Operator Instructions] We have the first question from the line of Sandeep Shah from CGS-CIMB.
Just a question, it's in terms of the export revenues, Sudhir. So I think a very good execution overall, but if I just look at the BFSI and the Insurance revenue, in dollar terms, there is a bit of a tapered growth. Is it more to do with furloughs and that's why the export growth, to some extent, has been tapered in this quarter as well as the high-growth base? Or you believe the growth is lower than your expectation while entering the quarter?
The BFS number of 1.7% growth came on the back of 2 very strong quarters. The previous quarters were 6.2% and 8.8% sequential growth. This is, as you know, a quarter with few -- with lesser number of working days and we expect, based on the pipeline that we see in BFS and the large deal velocity that the outlook for the BFS business will continue to stay robust.
Okay, okay. And even for the Travel & Transportation, we remain positive.
Absolutely, Sandeep. And if you look at our numbers now, last 3 quarters sequential growth for Travel has been 7.7%, 9.2%, 5.4%. A very interesting aside that I might add here is that we've signed one of the largest airlines in the world as outlined in quarter 3. That's one of the 10 new logos that I talked about.
Okay, okay, okay. Just in terms of the macro issues, if you look at, Sudhir, I think 18% to 20% of the revenue, if I'm not wrong, comes out of U.K. and Brexit being an overhang for the sector. Is there any interaction where you believe it's time to be slightly cautious, where negative surprises could be there in terms of known factors? Also, if you can comment about any interaction with the U.S.-based client related to macro concerns and the GDP slowdown?
So the only macro factor that we're monitoring really closely at this point in time environmental factor more than macro factor is the immigration regime and the changes therein, Sandeep. If we look at the first aspect of what you talked about, which was the Brexit implication in our business in Europe, in Europe and in the U.K. market, most of what we do is in the insurance space and in the travel space and we do not see technologies spends going down as a consequence of a hard or a soft landing on the Brexit front. So we feel very -- reasonably confident that the demand environment and the pricing context will not degrade in Europe. In the U.S., we have, for many quarters now, been building in extra cost given the work with the regime, which has turned more restrictive. We will continue to build that in and as you will have noticed at this point, building those costs and having factored them in, our margins continue to improve.
Okay, okay. Fair enough. Just -- Mr. Pawar, as you are there on the call, would you like to comment anything about the media reports about what to say about this? Because this may have some impact in terms of the employee as well as in terms of a client interaction. Any comments would be really appreciated here.
Yes, I think we're also hearing the same news that you are hearing and basically we have no comment. We don't make comments on that matter. There's nothing to comment.
The next question is from the line of Ravi Menon from Elara Securities.
If you -- considering the headcount barely changed and utilization has also not moved much, in fact, it's declined. This implies a significant increase in realization sequentially. So is this due to multiple contracts coming to billing from transition or any other factors that you want to call out?
Ravi, you weren't completely clear. Would you mind repeating your question, please?
I'm sorry. Better now?
Yes.
So I was just saying that your headcount has not changed much and utilization is actually, I think, down slightly sequentially. So there was significant realization improvement. So is this due to multiple contracts coming to billing from transition or any other factors that you want to call out?
This was, I know you know this, this was a shorter quarter for us. There's always a following factors -- events. The utilization numbers that you see having come down to 79% from 80% was a direct consequence of that. We feel very comfortable operating at the 80% utilization level and we believe that we will continue to operate at that level in quarters to come. Our headcount, you will have seen, has actually been on a clear climb over the last 4 quarters. In the last 4 quarters, we have collectively added close to 1,000 people, which is a very significant addition for a 10,000 -- roughly a 10,000-people organization. So this being a shorter quarter is why you noticed some of those blips, and as I had said right at the outset, attrition numbers where they stand today still happen to be best-in-class across the industry.
Great. I just wanted to check if the realization improvement there's any one-off there, so it sounds like that's sustainable?
I'm struggling to hear you clearly.
I have a bad cold. I'm sorry. So I'm just saying that the realization improvement, that seems to be sustainable. Can we say that?
Utilization numbers that you're looking at -- utilization is something that we think is realistic. It's something that is clearly sustaining.
Great. Secondly, Insurance, your biggest vertical, that continues to be the fastest growing. Very strong traction there and this seems to be coming outside your top 10 clients. Any new service cross-sell, or other factors helping this traction?
Yes, absolutely, Ravi. Part of the story that's playing out in Insurance is the same story that's playing out in the other 2 verticals, which is the new transformation engine that we have created with a new transformation head in the market. And the large deal funnel that we see and even below the large deals, smaller but material deals that we see coming in from our top 10 enterprise clients in Insurance, even the top 10 Insurance clients, have increased. So that's been one factor that's driven growth. The second factor that's driven growth for us has been the fact that we have for quite a few quarters now been investing very consciously in improving our capabilities across a few core insurance platforms. In those platforms with those product players, we are now being awarded a higher status, partnership status. And that is also filtering into more deals opening up for us. So I'd say those 2 are the large reasons, the big reasons that are actually driving the growth on the Insurance side.
The next question is from the line of Ruchi Burde from Bank of Baroda Capital Markets.
I wanted to check on operating margin. So far, we had good run in terms of margin improvement. Now beyond March quarter, how do you see over medium to long term, how would operating margin should -- shape up for NIITTECH. Would you reinvest growth deals back in the business? Or you see further scope of margin improvement?
Ruchi, we are, as per our assessment, now in the top bracket in IT firms when it comes to operating margins. As we had said last time, we think that on an annualized basis in the years to come, 18% should be the new threshold that we plan to aim for and that we should aim for. So 18%, we think, is eminently achievable, and it is completely sustainable. And beyond that, we would continue to look for robust growth and funnel some of the extra profits into driving that growth. Did I answer your question?
Yes. Also, could you talk a bit more about what is your take on how company is preparing for the on-site visa-related issue that you mentioned briefly? Now do you expect a near-term cost increase led by that? Or you think NIIT has already made investments?
We've already seen significant costs in the current year in which they're operating and in which the margin has improved as well. This year, we incurred close to $1 million extra when it came to this overall bucket around visa acquisitions. Moving forward, we have, again, provisioned for higher costs to ensure that we are fully prepared to staff ourselves for the growth that we see ahead of us. So that's -- and that's how -- on the commercial aspect -- on the commercial side, we are planning to address the on-site visa issues. From a more structural perspective, we have enhanced our localization efforts, and we have also started using a nearshore center for North America more effectively. As you already know, we have a very large, a very significant data center which we operate out of Boise, Idaho, and that in turn continues to fuel growth for us for that specific business.
The next question is from the line of Akshay Goswami from SBI securities.
I have 3 questions, 2 bookkeeping. One is, can you provide a breakup for revenue and margin for the segments? And next is the expected ETR rate for the next financial year. And thirdly, do you have any capital allocation plans now that you have such high cash balance on the balance sheet?
Sure. I'll give you the numbers for the breakup, the first question. Quarter 3 numbers for GIS, and these are in INR: GIS was INR 468 million, operating margin was 27%. NITL, INR 504 million; operating margin, 27%. I'll repeat that, 27%. Incessant quarter 3 revenues, INR 1, 2, 7, 7 million, INR 1,277 million; operating margin, 24.5%. Our CFO will take the next question around ETR.
Yes, for the quarter, as we said, is 29.7%, which is, on a normalized basis, 24.2%. We expect this to be remaining within the range of 22.5% for the year.
Okay. And 24%...
On the capital allocation question.
So these opportunities in the inorganic state is part of our internal strategy, and I think we would expect to look at utilizing...
I'm sorry to interrupt, but we can't really hear you very clearly. If you could maybe move closer to the mic, sir.
I'm sorry. Actually, I was looking away. But saying that we continue to have an inorganic strategy as an internal part of our growth strategy, and we would continue to look at investing our surpluses towards that to improve [ this as well ].
Okay, and my last question is what's the FCF number for the last quarter and 9 months?
Sorry, which numbers?
Free cash flow or FCF.
Free cash flow.
Free cash flow for the quarter was -- free cash flow for the fourth quarter was INR 1,301 million.
And for the 9 months?
Nine months is about INR 2,778 million.
The next question is from the line of Madhu Babu from Centrum Broking.
Sir, some of the large-cap peers have sounded caution on the supply side. How do we see that? And how do we see our on-site cost structures? And second, gradually, there has been an on-site shift in our effort mix in terms of the headcount reported. So do we see that stabilizing here? Or it could go up further?
Yes, Madhu, supply side, there are challenges, but I think we've operationally been able to factor those. A prime example of that is the fact that we've been able to add 11%, roughly 11%, to our headcount over the last 4 quarters itself. So the growth that we anticipate is growth that, from our point of view, is growth we will be able to staff. On-site numbers, as you would have noticed, at 64%, 65% are at a level where we expect them to sustain and not rise beyond that at this point in time.
Okay, and the exit for this year is going to be very strong with this momentum. So next year, do you expect this similar kind of growth momentum to continue considering the deal pipeline?
We expect to continue to grow, to have robust growth next year as well, in line with the large deal velocity that we see and in line with the pipeline funnel that we see at this point in time.
[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Sandeep Shah from CGS-CIMB.
Yes, just, Sudhir, on the margins. I think you are looking for a flattish margin for the fourth quarter, so -- which could be, again, close to 18.5%, 18.6%. And you are looking for 18%. So is it like in the coming year? Or could you -- or maybe from an exit rate, you are looking for a slight decline? Or is it more to do with investments? Or is it more to do with the headwinds related to on-site cost and management?
So we don't expect a decline from 18.6%. We haven't indicated that for Q4. What we do believe is that in the years to come, starting next year, 18% annualized is a margin number that we feel very comfortable delivering. The reason why we've cited at 18% is linked to the second option that you laid out, Sandeep, which is that we would like to direct anything beyond the 18% threshold into driving robust growth that I talked about earlier.
Okay, okay, okay. And so in the Travel & Transportation, Sudhir, if I look at even the large players are also driving the growth significantly. I agree on a low base. But for them also, their base had a smaller vertical contribution. The growth has been higher. So do you believe because of the digital investment, the competitive intensity is higher in this segment? And how we position here versus the others?
Our positioning in travel is strong, Sandeep, and you know the context. We've been in this industry for more than 2 decades. We have -- we work with some of the marquee names when it comes to airlines, airports, hospitality and travel tech. And we lead in this industry with a ton of confidence largely driven off our understanding of this domain, which we believe is exceptional. The other thing that we have focused on over the years, and we continue to sharpen that focus, is on figuring out ways in which digital and emerging technologies can drive transformation for this industry. We believe we have one of the strongest case study pools and credentials when it comes to constructing digital and emerging technology-led transformation for the travel sector. That's how we see the play in travel. The other interesting thing that we see from a demand point of view in the travel industry is that investments in digital are no longer discretionary for travel players. For most airlines, illustratively, today, digital investment is an imperative and nondiscretionary because key metrics like ancillary revenue generation are directly linked to the digital infrastructure. And hence, the digital investments are directed to those spaces. If my wife was a little bit right, then we'll have to [ check ] more, but I think I was right.
No, that's fair enough. Just in terms of the fourth quarter because there could be a possibility that the seasonal strength of fourth quarter in the GIS may have come in the 3Q. Or do you believe the GIS trend may even continue in the fourth quarter? And if not, do you believe the growth momentum, which is generally better for us in the fourth quarter, may slow down versus the third quarter?
So Sandeep, we think quarter 4 will again be robust growth like quarter 3, more robust growth. You're right, GIS has delivered a very strong performance in Q3. We don't expect that performance to go down, but then we don't from such high level, we don't expect it to go up either. That's how we see the business right now.
Okay. And sir, last question. One of your large peers has spoken about a largely -- a potential headwind of the IT budget cuts in the buy side or the capital markets considering the decline in the AUM. And we also do a lot of business with the wealth managers. So how do you see -- is there also -- you are coming with such kind of an interaction with the client? At the same time, can you also throw some light with the -- one of the large deals which you have signed with one of your largest BFS client as well?
Absolutely, Sandeep. So the buy side for us is clear across the buy side, and you and I both know this, is -- actually, the play for us is around assets and wealth management. It is equally importantly for us around securities operations, transaction -- and transaction processing for those securities. It is a long wall that we do for hedge funds. It is work that we do for the ultrahigh-net-worth segments. So there are 4 segments here. The asset management space is one who has seen the headwind that you've talked about, but the wealth management industry from a macro perspective is doing well. Transaction processing, by definition, is not something that is terribly seasonal. The ultrahigh-net-worth space, places where we have had multiple clients over the past few quarters, again continues to do well. So if I look at BFS as a macro for us, and within that macro, if I consider the buy-side capital markets, the subsegment for the buy-side capital markets as an aggregate give us comfort that we are well placed right now. There's another angle that I want to leave you with. Given the AUM hops, there is going to be a push in certain clients to offshore more for cost containment. We see that as well. And one of the large deals in this quarter that we have referenced is a large deal with an asset and wealth management player which was facing the exact same headwind that you are talking about. And that has actually translated into a revenue pool creation for us. I'm not sure if I answered you fully, but that's how we see that space.
The next question is from the line of Rahul Jain from Emkay Global.
Basically, the question is around the kind of an outlook that you see now given that you have so many, 6, 7, straight quarters of order win uptake. And then you see -- you have commented strong across geographies and verticals. So does that mean this kind of a growth that we saw in FY '19 is something what you would benchmark going into next year as the growth rate that you mentioned?
Rahul, as you know, we don't give revenue guidance. But as I have said, we expect growth to continue to be robust, and that's borne out of multiple factors. The 3 industries that we operate across, if you look at our own internal metrics around pipeline, we feel confident about the future. If you look at our internal metrics around new logo acquisitions, that makes us more confident about the future. So that's one leg that gives us comfort. The second leg that gives us comfort is that over the last 5 or 6 quarters which you referenced, we have been making very significant investments in creating new competence pools like data services, RPA, cloud. And we think that the revenue increase from these pools is still to be fully realized in the years to come. So that's second thing that gives us comfort around the future. And the third thing, of course, which we've shared with you in the past, is that we continue to make sure that we hire Tier 1 lateral talent and blend it with the more tenured leaders. That is an ongoing process. And the benefit that we are going to realize from the new leaders who come in, some of whom are very well settled in, others who've just joined recently and will be settling in, is also something that we hope will start reflecting more aggressively in the years to come.
Okay. And if you could -- sorry to ask you this, but if you could repeat some of those GIC (sic) [ GIS ] and Incessant numbers. I could not capture that.
Sure, absolutely. Quarter 3 GIS was INR 468 million revenues, 27% operating profit -- operating margin. NIIT, revenue Q3 was INR 504 million, operating margin was 27%. Incessant, quarter 3 revenue was INR 1,277 million and the operating margin was 24.5%. I repeat, 24.5%.
Right. Just to follow up on that. I mean, so it's a seasonally weak quarter, but given the past track record of Incessant, do you think this number for this quarter is relatively slower than the typical pace of this business? Or there's not too much to read into this?
I think given that we're already in quarter 4 and we have the outlook ahead of us, we know that we feel very strongly that Incessant is going to bounce right back in quarter 4, and it will be reflected in the performance that we will report for quarter 4.
Okay. And last one from my side. You were talking about this leadership addition induction. So you shared 3 addition. One was in digital, one was in Europe. I missed the third one. And in general also, you may -- again highlight what is -- how much of your task on this front is concluded and how much more you think need to be strengthened further?
So the third person who I referenced is an EVP, [ Vamsi Krishna ], who was a Managing Director at Accenture and has joined us earlier this week to run our global Infrastructure Management Services business. Our leadership addition, as you know, is always an ongoing process. But we think that the material additions have been done and the structure is fully formed. We will continue to look for exceptional talent as and when we find it. So it's going to be an ongoing process, but we don't really see any major lack today in our leadership post against the coming structure that we have.
The next question is from the line of Shashi Bhusan from Axis Capital.
The margin guidance that you've given for Q4, is it on cc? Because in that case, we may see upside on the margin by like 40 to 60 bps in the next quarter.
It's on a cc basis, Shashi.
[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Ganesh Shetty, who's an individual investor.
Yes, yes. Congratulations for a strong quarter in a seasonally weak period, and I wish you all the best. My all questions are answered.
Thank you, Mr. Shetty.
Thank you very much. We'll take that as the last question. I would now like to hand the conference back to Mr. Sudhir Singh, CEO, NIIT Technologies, for closing comments.
Thank you very much for joining us this evening. We were very pleased with the results, and we were very pleased with the fact that you could make time for us today. We look forward to speaking with you again next quarter. And I apologize once again for my voice. Hopefully, it's going to be a lot better next time around. Thank you.
Thank you very much. On behalf of NIIT Technologies, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, ladies and gentlemen. You may now disconnect your lines.