Tata Consultancy Services Ltd
NSE:TCS
| US |
|
Johnson & Johnson
NYSE:JNJ
|
Pharmaceuticals
|
| US |
|
Berkshire Hathaway Inc
NYSE:BRK.A
|
Financial Services
|
| US |
|
Bank of America Corp
NYSE:BAC
|
Banking
|
| US |
|
Mastercard Inc
NYSE:MA
|
Technology
|
| US |
|
Abbvie Inc
NYSE:ABBV
|
Biotechnology
|
| US |
|
Pfizer Inc
NYSE:PFE
|
Pharmaceuticals
|
| US |
|
Palantir Technologies Inc
NYSE:PLTR
|
Technology
|
| US |
|
Nike Inc
NYSE:NKE
|
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods
|
| US |
|
Visa Inc
NYSE:V
|
Technology
|
| CN |
|
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
NYSE:BABA
|
Retail
|
| US |
|
3M Co
NYSE:MMM
|
Industrial Conglomerates
|
| US |
|
JPMorgan Chase & Co
NYSE:JPM
|
Banking
|
| US |
|
Coca-Cola Co
NYSE:KO
|
Beverages
|
| US |
|
Realty Income Corp
NYSE:O
|
Real Estate
|
| US |
|
Walt Disney Co
NYSE:DIS
|
Media
|
| US |
|
PayPal Holdings Inc
NASDAQ:PYPL
|
Technology
|
If you don’t study any companies, you have the same success buying stocks as you do in a poker game if you bet without looking at your cards.
Utilize notes to systematically review your investment decisions. By reflecting on past outcomes, you can discern effective strategies and identify those that underperformed. This continuous feedback loop enables you to adapt and refine your approach, optimizing for future success.
Each note serves as a learning point, offering insights into your decision-making processes. Over time, you'll accumulate a personalized database of knowledge, enhancing your ability to make informed decisions quickly and effectively.
With a comprehensive record of your investment history at your fingertips, you can compare current opportunities against past experiences. This not only bolsters your confidence but also ensures that each decision is grounded in a well-documented rationale.
Do you really want to delete this note?
This action cannot be undone.
| 52 Week Range |
3 330.65
4 553.75
|
| Price Target |
|
We'll email you a reminder when the closing price reaches INR.
Choose the stock you wish to monitor with a price alert.
|
|
Johnson & Johnson
NYSE:JNJ
|
US |
|
|
Berkshire Hathaway Inc
NYSE:BRK.A
|
US |
|
|
Bank of America Corp
NYSE:BAC
|
US |
|
|
Mastercard Inc
NYSE:MA
|
US |
|
|
Abbvie Inc
NYSE:ABBV
|
US |
|
|
Pfizer Inc
NYSE:PFE
|
US |
|
|
Palantir Technologies Inc
NYSE:PLTR
|
US |
|
|
Nike Inc
NYSE:NKE
|
US |
|
|
Visa Inc
NYSE:V
|
US |
|
|
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
NYSE:BABA
|
CN |
|
|
3M Co
NYSE:MMM
|
US |
|
|
JPMorgan Chase & Co
NYSE:JPM
|
US |
|
|
Coca-Cola Co
NYSE:KO
|
US |
|
|
Realty Income Corp
NYSE:O
|
US |
|
|
Walt Disney Co
NYSE:DIS
|
US |
|
|
PayPal Holdings Inc
NASDAQ:PYPL
|
US |
This alert will be permanently deleted.
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd
You don't have any saved screeners yet
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our fourth quarter FY '19 press conference. As always, I would request our CEO, Mr. Rajesh Gopinathan, to begin with his opening remarks, after which we'll take your questions. Thank you. Sir?
Thanks, Arushi, and welcome everyone to our Q4 results. I'm very happy to share that we've had a very strong Q4 to wrap up a picture-perfect FY '19. Let me walk through some of the numbers and then I'll talk a bit more and provide color on both the quarter as well as the year. So for the quarter, we have crossed a big milestone once again at INR 38,000 crores. Our revenue has grown by 11 -- 12.7% CC and 18.5% in INR terms on a Y-on-Y basis. At 8.5% dollar growth, it's dollar growth acceleration on a quarterly basis continues. The quarter has also been marked by strong operating margin growth, which has expanded 17% on a year-on-year basis.And going on to the net margin also at INR 8,100-plus crores, this has been a very steady net margin performance with net margin expanding more than 21% and coming in at 21.5%, 21.4% for the full year. That's from the profitability metrics perspective. From cash generation, also, it has been a very strong year. Our total cash generated from operations this quarter is more than INR 8,000 crores, with free cash flows of more than $1 billion and our cash conversion rate at slightly more than 98% in range with our long-term averages.When you look at it from a segment perspective, one of the most important things is that our large segments like North America continuously inch towards the company average and the double-digit trajectory that we have set for all our businesses. North America registered 9.9% growth on a year-on-year basis.If you look at U.K., this is standout performance. Our long-houred approach that macro is just the environment that we work in, but we are more focused on opportunities at a customer level and making investments and making sure that we utilize those opportunities and fully participate in that is best showcased in the performance that we have seen in U.K. U.K. grew 21.3% year-on-year and I'll share the full year numbers also. So we are very happy with our performance in the U.K. market.And onto Continental Europe. Continental Europe has been steadily growing and it continues its above-average growth, registering a growth of 17.5%. Similarly, from a segmental results perspective, BFSI had a milestone quarter, breaking into double-digit year-on-year growth, registering 11.6% year-on-year growth for this quarter. And we'll come to the full year numbers also on that later.Life Sciences has been in the last few years steadily continues to grow at a very accelerated pace, registering more than 18% growth. And Retail & CPG also continues its double-digit trajectory. And recovery in this vertical is also quite heartening. From large customer perspective, we have added more than 6 new customers in the 100 million-plus bracket and our digital revenues now constituent more than 30% -- at 31% of our revenue, growing at 46% year-on-year for the quarter gone by.Overall headcount addition has been very strong. We added more than 29,000 people on a full year -- rather on a year-on-year basis, and our attrition continues to remain very -- on industry benchmark with industry-leading retention rates and an attrition rate of 11.3%.Looking at the numbers from a full year perspective, we have delivered $20.9 billion of revenue for the year gone by at INR 146,000 crores, which is a growth of 11.4% in CC terms and 9.6% in dollar terms.Rupee revenue growth came in at 19%. Even more heartening, our operating margin expanded 79 basis points for the full year and came in at 25.6%, and our net margin remained steady at 21.5%, growing at 23.8% year-on-year and delivering a 40 basis point improvement at the net profit level.So overall, very, very heartening set of numbers. Cash conversion is also very strong at more than 100%. And if you look at the segmental results, they, in many ways, mirror what I spoke to you in the Q4 results itself. North America, as I said, steadily continues to march towards its double-digit trajectory. For the full year, North America has delivered 8.3%, which is more than double of what it had done in the previous year.U.K. I already spoke about. The focus on customers, focus on opportunities, resulting in a full year revenue growth in the U.K. market of 22%, which is something that is really a standout performance.Continental Europe. Once again, as I mentioned, it's been a steady performance there, market-leading in company-leading growth. And we are very happy with the work that is going on in both U.K. and Europe.BFSI. Compared to where we were at the same time last year, we are in a much stronger position. And once again, to emphasize, these numbers are excluding the fantastic work that's happening on our BFSI platforms. This is our BFSI services revenue, which has clocked in 7.7% for the full year.Energy and utilities, life sciences, health care, all of these are registering close to 20%, 15% plus kind of growth rates.Our client additions continue strongly. Our digital revenues are, for the full year, growing at more than 50% at close to 28.6%.So overall, as I mentioned, this has been a picture-perfect year. And when we think back about the year, what I'm most happy about is this is a year where TCS has fired on all cylinders. All elements of our strategy, all dimensions of our strategy, all elements of our organization have worked together and delivered as a team to deliver -- to generate this kind of outstanding results.Starting with our Business 4.0 framework, which is our thought leadership framework, that's allowing us to participate in the growth and transformation agenda of our customers.Going on to areas like MFDM, the Machine First Delivery Model, our investments in ignio which has had an outstanding year, doubling its customer base to more than 100 with more than 50 go-live customers. Our focus on Agile and our location independent Agile is as transformative to this industry as the global network delivery model that we introduced a couple of decades back.So the -- every element of it, if you think about digital, we have now created more than a $6 billion business that is growing at close to 50%. And what's most heartening about it is that it is a reaffirmation of the belief that each TCSer has in herself and himself to transform from within and to be able to constantly invest in ourselves to capture the ever-changing opportunities in the technology world.Similarly, if you look at our investments in areas like R&D, we now have been granted more than 940 patents and we have filed close to 5,000 patents. So our investments are bearing fruit. Our platform business, which delivered outstanding deal wins, continues to be upright and, again, it is built on organically invested assets that we have systematically built over decades and have been able to exploit into the -- to generate market-leading opportunities.So overall, if you look at from an employee perspective, again, as I said about digital, what is outstanding is the fact that TCSers have been able to come together and harvest the contextual knowledge that they have and have been able to really drive the digital champions that -- champion status that we are seeking. And we have been able to do this in the core with people, with whom we have invested in on a continuous basis. That shows through in our employee retention. It shows through in our customer satisfaction. It shows through in our industry-leading growth.We are also constantly changing the talent landscape. The work that we are doing with HR and -- along with our iON platform, in what we call the TCS National Qualifying Test, the TNQT, and our online training program, which we call TCS Explorer, will fundamentally change the talent landscape in India.We are using our scale and we are putting it to good -- to the greater good of the country. We have now have active engagement with students from over 1,800 campuses. So this is a true platform opportunity, where scale is actually delivering larger good and also allowing us to deliver on our own strategic initiatives.I could keep going on and on as I'm very happy about where we are, and I want to thank all our customers, all our employees and all of you who have had faith and confidence in us.And with that, I want to -- before I open this for questions, I want to share one more important update. 39 years ago, a sprightly young man joined TCS, among the first 500 or so to join TCS, and today marks his last quarter of -- in this phenomenal journey, Ajoyendra will be retiring at the end of this quarter. And I want all of us to join together and wishing him best of luck and thanking him. He has seen everything in TCS. So any questions you have, you can today direct at Ajoy.With that, thank you, everyone.
[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Sajeet Manghat, Bloomberg-Quint.
Rajesh, congratulations on achieving $20 billion mark. It seems every 5 years, you're doubling your revenues. Okay. My first question to you is with respect to the growth which you have clocked into FY '19, 11.4% on CC terms and 9.4 -- 9.6% in dollar-term growth on a year-to-year basis. How sustainable is 11% growth for you? The second one, which I have, is with respect to order because in your commentary, you spoke about that the order book is more than 3 quarters -- bigger than the 3 quarters. Can you give us a color of the order book, how big is it and from which region is it coming in? And the third one is on your capital allocation policy. Is there a change in that policy? Or have you increased the capital out go to the shareholders in the next or coming financial year? For Ramki...
You can go ahead.
Or I can take it one by one.
Okay. Let me address the TCV part of it. So in this quarter, we have closed total contract value of more than $6.2 billion. And most interestingly, this has actually come from many markets. So it has come from Europe. It has come from U.K., India, Middle East from verticals -- different verticals it has come across. So it has been a very broad-based one, not just lumped together in North America or BFSI. So that -- actually, that's one of the big things that gives us the confidence about the momentum that we see. I don't want to comment on the specific number. But if you look at where we were at the same time last year, we had very large segments that were actually dragging on growth, growing at less than 2%, 3% and had large segments. We also had the benefit of a few larger deals. Now we have a much more even portfolio, where almost all the segments are close to the company average, so that we don't have any specific laggards per se to talk about any large segments that are laggards. So that sets us up nicely into the new year. We are exiting this year or entering next year with a 3.6% growth logged in because of the Q4 performance that we have, and this compares to something like 2.5% for last year. So we have a percentage point lead on that side also, about 80 basis points lead. So net-net, it's in a good position. We have runs on the board. We have a great team, and we're looking forward to play.
The 11.4% growth...
Sajeet, last question.
Then I'll ask all of the questions in one go then.
No. So we have to restrict ourselves to 1 question.
So the 3 questions which I asked, 1 was on the TCV, the second one was on the kind of growth that you had for full year in dollar terms. Are you confident of double-digit growth going forward? And...
Sajeet, I answered the growth in as much detail as I can.
Okay. And the capital allocation policy, is there any changes to that?
At this point of time, there is nothing. So we've always maintained that close to 80% to 100% of our free cash flow we will return. So if there is a change, we will come back.
Okay. Sajeet, we'll have to come back to you.
26% to 28% was something which you had guided last financial year. We ended the year at less than 26%. Are you still continuing with that kind of guidance? And what is the lever that you have to push through in FY '20?
I think we have said that. This is not a guidance, but it's more an aspiration. This is our own target which we look at. If you look at the full year, we closed it at around 25.6% and which is about 80 basis points, 79 basis points increase over the last year. So despite all various things which have been happening, so from a margin perspective, we are somewhere close to the lower end of where we want to be, but again, it's not a guidance.
Next question is from Reema from CNBC.
Congratulations, gentlemen, and Ajoy, you will be sorely missed every single quarter from here on. It's been a pleasure interacting with you over so many quarters. I just want to first talk about the CC numbers, $6.2 billion of leeway, how will you compare with, say, FY '19 -- or FY '18, higher or lower, by what percentage points? On margins, Ramki, do you think in the coming year, you will be able to maintain these margins on a full year basis? Or will they be under pressure on account of supply stagnation? And you've spoken about the cost of business going up in the prior quarter. What is the position on that? And finally, also a word on BFSI, NGS, if you could add. You hit that double-digit mark in Q4, will it sustain? Or do you think macro uncertainties could cloud that outlook?
Okay. Mine is the easiest one. We have started declaring these numbers only for this financial year, so we don't have comparatives for next year. You'll have to wait for the coming year to get a year-on-your comparative.
But at least directionally, would it be higher or lower?
Wait for the year, then we'll tell you year-on-year. Ramki?
Yes. I think on margins, we stay quite focused on this one. I think all the levers which have been working, they continue to be strong. And if you look at various other parameters and metric, so that is there. So there is no reason why we should not be confident about continuing to be resilient on our margins.
And on the cost of doing business?
See for instance, last quarter, yes, a little bit on the -- some of the people cost, et cetera, went up. But if you look at it this quarter, our gross margin has been steady. And also SG&A, there's a slight increase in the expenses. But if you look at it on a year-on-year basis, it is almost on the same range. And as I said to the earlier question, on any full year basis, our margins have expanded by 80 basis points. So we'll continue to be on that journey.
This is one-off, right? This is not electoral bonds, it is [indiscernible]...
Yes, that's part of our expenses. Yes.
And on BFSI?
See banking financial services, we have been growing consistently over the last 4 quarters. And we're exiting this quarter at a year-on-year growth of 11-point-plus percentage. So we set ourselves well, and we are participating in greater number of opportunities. Overall, we don't see any sectorally, there is any weaknesses, though there are some softness with some clients in North America, some clients in Europe, but we don't see any sectoral weakness per se in banking financial services or insurance.
Our next question is from Swati from Zee Business.
Gentlemen, congratulations, numbers are, obviously, better than what The Street was estimating. Of course, bit of margin decline, which was again expected. But specific question about the markets that you were talking. While we are talking of an era and last time when we were talking of geopolitical tensions and other global risks, how comfortable are you now having seen what has happened and there could be some play spilling over in the coming quarters? So how are you factoring in when you talk about the numbers in the prospects of growth, number one? Number two, on attrition, of course, you set the benchmark standards. Addition of people as well you talked about. What is the forecast looking now for the next year? Is it going to be as healthy as you had projected or it can -- it will be pretty flat going forward?
You take the first one.
Yes. Thank you. I think Rajesh alluded to this in his opening commentary. There are always these macro issues and macro challenges like Brexit and few others are there. But we are pretty focused on looking at the market, looking at our -- what our clients are investing in and create opportunities and then create offerings to tap those opportunities, right. For example, U.K. this year has grown by nearly 22% year-on-year. So in a situation where always U.K. was seen as Brexit, right. So we have grown at 22% in that. So it shows that, look, we are very focused on markets, focused on opportunities, focused on our clients and see how do we create offerings. And this year, during the year, more than 25-plus offerings have been created, integrating some of the digital core, some of the digital on the front and how do you stitch together solutions overall that will enable us to capture those opportunities. I think overall, while we don't want to discount the macro situations, economic situations or micro outlooks, whatever you want to say, that's for economists to worry about. But for us, and I think we'll worry about what clients are saying, what opportunities that they are investing in, where they want to grow and see how we want to position ourselves to participate in those opportunities.
Attrition?
For attrition side, I think, see overall what we have is about 11.3% in the IT space and it's the benchmark as far as industry is concerned. And we have been maintaining it pretty flat at that range. So people are generally pretty happy and the kind of investments that we are making in our own people in terms of -- as we said that digital is the way to go, so the entire training and whatever is going on, the opportunities that people are getting, that's definitely helping and retaining the kind of talent base that we have and building their competencies. Rajesh alluded to the contextual knowledge, the agile way of working and everything else. And as far as your question of growth is concerned next year, so that is something that probably I should not say. I put my successor in trouble. But jokes apart, I think we have not been giving you the numbers that we will be hiring in future. It depends upon the business growth. And at this point in time, if you see, we are pretty confident and we will be hiring. And the only numbers that we point out is the number of trainees that we have given offer to. This year, we have done the TCS National Qualifier Test, 1,800 colleges, from where it was online test, people came in campus testing. And we have given about 30,000 offers to the campus hires. They will come in and join in the next financial year. So beyond that, any other numbers will depend upon the growth. We are doing all just-in-time kind of hiring. And we are going to meet all the business requirements, that much, yes.
The next question is from Pranay Jain, ET Now.
First off, you said it's been a picture-perfect FY '19. So how do you picture FY '20, given this kind of strong exit and the solid key events that you have [indiscernible] that you mentioned. Any challenges for a double-digit growth again FY '20 and on core?
So FY '20 is a field of fallen snow. We'll carefully tread on it and paint a picture, which we can be proud of next year.
But I'm asking this that are you as confident about the year as you were about midway through FY '19, when it came to growth momentum? And we are seeing it coming across geographies and segments. That is what I'm asking.
Pranay, without, again, being led into saying something that we don't want to. As I said, we are exiting this year in a much stronger position than what we entered the FY '19 in. That's the reality. There is -- everything else, you guys actually know more than we do. Our intention is to stay focused on our strategy and to participate fully and to look for opportunities and grow. Beyond that, it's very difficult for us to actually make a comment. But we are confident. We are out there.
And on margins, these are sustainable margins even for the year ahead? I mean, Q1, you're going to absorb the higher wage cost and...
The most sustainable thing about margins is this question that keeps coming. So it's been the same question, our answers have been the same. It is our intent. It's our aspiration, and we continue to stay focused on it. At a point where we think that this is not possible, at that time, we'll call it out.
An additional requirement where subcontracting costs have been higher and based off that [indiscernible]. And so last year, it was depreciating 8.5%, that was [indiscernible] so we saw the benefit on your margins as well. That's why I was asking in that environment...
The rupee is a critical component of it because as we have always maintained, our cost structures are linked to local inflation and the inflation differential is economically reset by the depreciation of the weaker currency where the inflation is higher. So that is part and parcel of our business model. And any short-term movement in that volatility will come through. But structurally, we are in a good position.
Next question is from Neha Tyagi, BTVI.
Going back to the margins. This quarter, if we look at year-on-year, 31 basis point is the contraction that you've seen. Can you talk to us about where this contraction is coming in from? Is it because it is a seasonally weak quarter? Or is there any specific reason?
I think, given that this is the year-end, a better way to look at it is for the full year. Last year, we did 24.8%. This year, we are closing at 25.6%. We have good momentum. And we will see where it goes. There are multiple positives as well as multiple challenges that you guys have laid out. We think that we should be able to get it back and keep it somewhere in that range that we have spoken about and that's our intent and we'll be working towards that.
Sir, your digital revenue is growing in a very healthy manner. Can you talk to us about some of the biggest projects or strategy that you're currently working on?
No specific projects to call out on. But more and more digital is becoming very core to the overall growth and transformation that customers are seeing. We have spoken about areas like wealth management, where a combination of automation and digital transformation at the front end is fundamentally reshaping this industry. Retail has been at the forefront of what is going on. Customers are completely reimagining the way organizations are structured, going into what is called us moving from a product-centric organization to a customer-centric organization. And combining digital and Agile and going into product-centric ways of thinking about their delivery methodology. So it is now becoming very fundamental to everything that is going on, and that is where the volumes are coming and the size and the acceleration is coming from.
Sir, just lastly, firstly, your partnership with Google clouds, what is the kind of opportunity, the synergies that you're looking at? Also an update on the U.S. discrimination suit?
On the cloud side, we continue to participate with all the major providers. Our positioning is actually as a client-centric organization, which enables the customers' heterogeneous hybrid cloud strategy and provides the customers an ability to maintain their strategy beyond a single on a technology- and a vendor-agnostic basis. As part of that, we have strong partners to all providers and that's some integration strategy continues afoot.
Yes, next question is from...
Any specific opportunities? Can you provide any update on the U.S. discrimination suit?
On that one, we have won the jury trial. And the matter is decided on principle, we have won it. Operationally, we have decided to settle the issue across a multiple one. But that's a pure tactical call, just because of the way the legal structure operates in U.S. The win is there. Our principle-based stance has been taken. The rest is just an operational call.
Next question is from Harshada Sawant, CNBC Awaaz.
Just wanted to check with you, we've seen great growth in revenue, but margins seem to be stuck around the 25% mark, so are IT companies at this point in time chasing growth and letting go of margins or -- since you said margins will be resilient, how soon do we see that picking up? Is it a conscious [indiscernible]...
Among the global IT services industry, our margins are the highest. So beyond that, what can I tell you.
Look, at this point in time, because your growth numbers are far better than your peers and the peers are also beginning to pick up. So I'm just trying to understand as to are you looking at perhaps scaling yourself more in growth and you'll be comfortable with the margins as you said?
We are comfortable at margins at this level. They are close to our aspiration levels. I mean, 40 basis points here or there doesn't not move the needle. From a strategy perspective, we are focused on many other dimensions, the platform strategy that I spoke about, Business 4.0 as a strategy, our talent transformation strategy, so our minds are more occupied along those lines rather than the last 20 basis points.
Our next question is from Megha from Economic Times.
This is Megha from Economic Times. You said that TCV was about $6.2 billion this quarter. Could you give us a sense on what was the average deal size? I'm asking this because analysts like a year back said that the era of large deals is over and we will see much smaller deals? So if you could throw some light on that.
While we don't give that statistic, but we have been announcing multiple large deals. As you know, in this year, we have announced deals that have been largest in our history, $2.5 billion, aggregate deals of more than $6 billion in single quarter across just 3, 4 large ones. So I don't think there is merit in generalizing that large deals are over or large deals are back. There are opportunities which are large. There are opportunities which are small. In aggregate, the market continues to be fairly strong, and we are participating aggressively in that. And our deal wins are testimony of that.
Our next question is from Romita from Business Standard.
With respect to the $6.2 billion TCV, last quarter, you mentioned there was a pressure on the HR front because of the number of large deals coming in. We have even larger deals this time. So one, has the pressure on subcontracting reduced in any way? Also, this is the March quarter, so in terms of last year, you had announced I think 120% variables for the quarter as well as what is the variable payout that employees can expect this time, if any? And also in terms of salary hikes across the globe, what has it been like?
Okay. So all of them are directed to me, so good. Let me start from the end, okay, the last question. So as far as the salary hikes are concerned, there's good news for our all TCSers. And this year salary hikes, it depends on country to country. There are many things that we take into account in terms of inflation, in terms of the benchmark, market competition, where we stand. So there are some countries from the benchmark point of view, on an average increment would be 2%. There will be some countries, where average increment will be 4%, some countries are like that. It varies to up to 6% in some countries. So like that it goes on. So that is as far as the average increment is concerned. So that is -- people will be, they will be seeing their letters starting tonight, so they will be getting their increment letters. Second is from variable payout point of view, it's again full, 100% variable has been paid out to all our employees. So that's again a good news for all our employees. Now the third one that you asked is as far as the growth is concerned in terms of our headcount, the pressure on HR, pressure on HR is good. So it's always good to meet the business demand. And as long as there is a business demand, we'll meet those. We'll fulfill those business demand.
And the subcontract impact on margins at this time?
I think this time it will be pretty similar to what we had earlier also. So it's not something that has gone up or no significant change as such. But the basic thing is, given the kind of business demand that is there, given the kind of competence requirement that is there and we have our talent strategy, which is in terms of how much of localization, how much of hiring in different other countries, so we are meeting all that. It's as per targets. So there's no specific kind of -- anything that we would like to highlight at this point in time.
Our next question is from Sankalp from Reuters.
I just like to ask -- I mean, Rajesh, you said North America is set for a double-digit growth trajectory. So a couple of quarters back, NGS said green shoots were showing and then you all performed really well after that in the BFSI space. So is this -- the BFSI growth, where it is, is this back to normal, our deal sizes or the kind of deals that are coming and the money that's coming in whether it's in small packets or bigger deals? Is this back to normal what are clients telling you? How's the atmosphere like, I mean in terms of BFSI specifically? That's one. And the other thing I wanted to ask is that you all have repeatedly said that you are investing in local talent. I mean North America being your biggest market. So what kind of pressure does it put on your margins? I mean -- because I mean you're also among the top global recruiters, so you match the salaries with other big tech companies in the world, so I just like to know the impact of that?
Firstly on the North America one, I'm not giving you this thing in terms of going back to double digit. I said it's coming closer and closer to double digit and as the numbers themselves indicate. On BFSI, again, it's a similar story. The great news is that it has broken into double digit year-on-year this quarter at 11.6% and that's a very, very heartening one. So we see BFSI as a mixed picture. It's fairly heterogeneous, varies by geography and by size as well as by the various verticals that they are in. Overall, Europe continues to be fairly strong. The capital markets part of it, which is the more volatile end of this industry, is, obviously, jittery given the macro that -- conditions that you are talking about. Insurance is more broad based and more stable. So there is no one single comment to make about it. But net-net in aggregate, the growth is there and we are participating strongly in it. This is -- again, as I said, this is just the services part of BFSI. Our platform business is really delivering well on the deals that we have picked up on, which comes under the other line in our segments. So it's too larger industry to talk about back to normal or, let's say, it's a heterogeneous market. On the local hiring...
Sir, just I wanted to add, I mean scope of development, we can see overhang of the Brexit, does that seem to be a part?
On both sides of the Brexit angle, we are growing at 20%. So I think the more important takeaway and which we have always maintained is that the macro is important, but the macro doesn't buy from you. Customers buy from you. Opportunities chase. So as long as we stay focused on customers and opportunities, that's where the business is. Beyond that, it's economists and analysts. We are not in that.
From local hiring point of view, I think I have mentioned that earlier as well. So there will -- we will be hiring locally and that is what is happening. Your question was more of whether it's going to put some pressure on the margin or not? Given our economies of scale and everything else, there are multiple ways of taking that into account. So for example, the business mix, for example, where exactly you're doing the delivery from. So there are many other levers that one can exercise. But our hiring as far as our various geographies are concerned, we will be hiring locally.
Our next question is from [ Rona Joy ] from Bloomberg.
So there have been some changes in the H1B visa framework that seem to favor applicants who have advanced degrees from U.S. universities. I guess this maybe is tying into your local hiring strategy, but is that one way that you are preparing for this? Or how do you see it impacting the business?
See from a H1B point of view, yes, there are some changes. But local degree, that was always one of the criteria. It's just the way the lottery will be done. There will be an advantage for people who have done the masters in U.S. So that definitely is there. It's not only that, it's that plus it's the kind of requirements that we have. It's the kind of activities that we are doing. It's the kind of talent that is required for meeting these particular demand, both. So from that angle -- and it's the kind of responsibility of a responsible organization. Wherever we are, we have to hire locally, we have to have that local culture in TCS. It's all these factors coming in and it depends upon our business plan. So this has been a plan over a longer period of time and we have been hiring locally. It's not that this is the first time we are hiring locally. We have been hiring pretty good numbers locally.
Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Please join us for high tea outside. And TV channels, please come up for your common sound bite. Thank you.