Half a dozen senior-level exits and the possibility of a second straight full-year revenue decline have put the spotlight on the efficacy of a turnaround at Birlasoft Ltd under its chief executive Angan Guha.
Guha, who oversaw a third of Wipro Ltd's business as head of its Americas business, took over as Birlasoft CEO in December 2022. Under his watch, the company reported a compound annual growth rate of 3.35% between FY23 and FY25, which is among the lowest for a software services provider generating $500 million to $1.5 billion in revenue.
During the period, peers Firstsource Solutions Ltd and Sonata Software Ltd grew 12.19% and 13.9%, respectively. However, Birlasoft outperformed Zensar Technologies Ltd’s 1.67% revenue growth.
Birlasoft, part of the $3 billion CKA Birla Group with interests in hospitals, IT, and electrical appliances, stares at a possible contraction in its topline for a second straight year, as it needs sequential dollar revenue growth of at least 20% to meet last year's $635 million level.
That comes when automation tools threaten to eat into the work done by information technology (IT) services companies as many human-led tasks, including coding, software development and maintenance, can now be automated, resulting in lower billing.
CXO exodus
Birlasoft’s turnaround under Guha faced a setback due to a string of senior executive departures over the past 18 months.
On Thursday, the company appointed former GlobalLogic senior vice-president Vikram Puranik as its chief operating officer (COO). This announcement came two days after three other senior leaders left the company, citing personal reasons.
Selvakumaran Mannappan resigned as COO on 30 March. The former Cognizant veteran had joined the company in October 2023, less than a year after Guha took over.
Priti Kataria resigned as the company’s chief human resources officer. Manjunath Kygonahally, who oversaw about 15% of the company’s business as the global head for strategic growth initiatives and CEO for the Rest of the World market, also resigned.
Almost eight months ago, Kamini Shah had resigned as the company’s chief financial officer after two and a half years.
The company also saw exits in its largest verticals and regions.
Vikram Chandna, who managed a fourth of Birlasoft’s business as the head of the company’s financial services and hi-tech business, left in April last year. His exit came two months after Roopinder Singh resigned as the company’s Americas head.
In October last year, Komal Jain was appointed as the company’s head for the Americas region. For eight months, the company lacked a dedicated head for the Americas, a region that accounts for more than four-fifths of its business.
Slowdown in the biggest market
Birlasoft’s revenue in the Americas declined by almost 4% on a sequential basis to $127.7 million during the October-December 2025 period. The company’s revenue increased 0.1% to $150.8 million during the quarter.
Guha is the third chief executive the company has had in the past 10 years, preceded by Anjan Lahiri and Dharmender Kapoor. During this period, five mid-sized IT services companies crossed the $1-billion revenue mark.
“Rapid CXO turnover can create execution gaps, disrupt client confidence, and slow decision-making at precisely the moment the firm needs clarity and speed. It suggests Birlasoft is still searching for a coherent narrative on how it competes in an AI-led services market,” said Phil Fersht, chief executive of HFS Research.
However, the company’s spokesperson attributed these leadership changes to future planning.
“We have ambitious plans for the future, and we are focused on building the leadership and capability needed to bring them to life. Having the right talent in place across the organisation is central to our ability to execute effectively, seize new opportunities, and deliver long-term growth for all stakeholders,” said the spokesperson in response to Mint’s queries emailed on Wednesday.
For now, exits underline slow growth at the Pune-based company. Birlasoft was one of the only small-sized IT services firms to end FY25 with a revenue decline. Its topline contracted 0.3%.
By contrast, closest peer Zensar’s revenue grew 5.4% to $624.5 million last fiscal.
Birlasoft has added about $171.4 million in incremental revenue in the last five years. Firstsource added more than double the revenue and is expected to cross the $1 billion mark this year. The company ended last year with $944 million, up 23.4% on a yearly basis.
Sonata Software Ltd more than doubled its revenue over the past five years to $1.2 billion at the end of FY25, an increase of 15.5% on a yearly basis.
Lack of AI strategy?
For now, Birlasoft’s slow growth has raised questions about Guha’s strategy.
“The company missed out on key deals and client engagement as it did not have a clear AI strategy as some of its other peers did,” said an executive with knowledge of the matter.
Birlasoft didn’t respond to the query on AI impact.
Karan Uppal, lead IT analyst for Phillip Capital, attributed the churn to a lack of a specialised AI-led offering.
“Birlasoft is probably unable to structure large deals like the way some of its larger peers like Coforge, Persistent, Mphasis are able to do,” said Uppal. “These larger peers also have IP offerings as part of deal structure, like Sasva by Persistent, which helps them differentiate and weave a better AI story. This might explain their (Birlasoft’s) slow growth.”
