Curiosity Most Critical Skill For New Hires: Coforge CEO Sudhir Singh
He praised the current generation of students who "spend their time participating in hackathons" and have a "strong mindset around hunting for solutions."
Coforge CEO Sudhir Singh has a clear message for aspirants looking to join the IT sector in the age of AI: focus on curiosity over certificates. The current generation of recruits is impressive in this regard, he said.
“The first, the foremost, possibly the only skill set is being curious. The current crop of students we hire from Indian colleges is fantastic for the AI age. They spend their time participating in hackathons. They have a very strong mindset around hunting for solutions and not necessarily counting on certificates as a surrogate to prove their competency,” Singh told NDTV Profit in an interview on Monday.
“In the age of AI, that curiosity, that urge to find the solution using technologies that are changing, that are mutating, that are still somewhat immature, is vital. For anyone who wants to join Coforge, that curiosity, that hands-on experience, anecdotally experience, having participated in a lot of hackathons and hopefully having won some of them, is what is of primary interest to us,” the top executive added.
The company remains committed to hiring fresh graduates and lateral talent to support its growth trajectory.
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“We continue to hire fresh graduates from colleges. And, of course, we continue to hire laterals as well. So, given the growth that we are experiencing and we anticipate, our hiring continues unabated.”
Addressing concerns about the US market, Singh downplayed the impact of US H1B visa uncertainties, describing the issue as "containable." He noted the firm secured only 65 H1B petitions last year for a global base of 35,000 employees, a number he is confident can be managed through on-site hiring without impacting margins or operations.
The company closed 10 large deals in the first half of the financial year, compared to 14 for the entire previous year, with Europe emerging as a strong market, Singh noted.
The company’s AI-driven platforms, such as CodeInsightAI for reverse engineering, BlueSwan for workflow automation, and Quasar for driving transformation, have significantly enhanced enterprise adoption of AI among clients, he said.
Coforge reported revenue of Rs 3,986 crore ($462 million) in Q2FY26. It saw an increase of 8.1% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) in rupee terms and 5.9% in constant currency (CC) terms. The IT firm’s Ebitda margin stood at 18.3% in Q2FY26, an increase of 115 basis points (bps) QoQ.
Shares of Coforge closed 4.03% higher at Rs 1,831 apiece on the NSE, compared to the benchmark Nifty50 settling at 25,966.05, with a gain of 0.66%.
