Quess Corp Targets Rs 350-Crore Ebitda In FY26, Led By Growth In Tier-2, Tier-3 Cities

Staffing and workforce solutions provider Quess Corp is targeting an Ebitda of Rs 350 crore and a blended margin of 2% in FY26, according to its Executive Director and CEO, Guruprasad Srinivasan. 

He said that the company is now debt-free and is witnessing significant hiring "green shoots," particularly in India's Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

“By the end of this year, we have been guiding to be around 2%. We will roughly deliver about Rs 350 crore of Ebitda. We are very well situated to be close to a 20% ROE (Return on Equity) company,” he said during a conversation with NDTV Profit. 

On being asked if the ROE and ROCE (Return on Capital Employed) will be in the high teens, he replied in the affirmative.

The Bengaluru-based firm officially completed its demerger in June, resulting in a simplified corporate structure with four key business lines: general staffing, India professional staffing, international business and an incubated digital platform.

"Post demerger, the business structure in itself has become far simpler," Srinivasan stated, highlighting the company’s debt-free status.

While the IT services sector continues to face a slowdown, Quess Corp is seeing a surge in demand from other industries. 

The company currently has over 42,000 open job mandates, with significant hiring activity seen in July and August across the manufacturing, consumer, retail and telecom sectors.

A key trend driving this growth is a massive uptick in hiring from non-metro cities. According to Srinivasan, nearly 37% of the company's hiring is now taking place in Tier 2 and Tier 3 locations. 

“The segments which are driving this are manufacturing, consumer, retail, telecom, logistics and supply chain. More e-commerce is going closer to the customer in Tier 2, Tier 3 locations. And you need the entire delivery and solutioning around it to cater to their customer needs,” he emphasised.

The Global Capability Centre (GCC) sector remains a cornerstone of Quess Corp's growth strategy. It currently caters to over 10% of India’s 1,600 GCCs.

“This particular segment, which is high margin, would continue to grow about 20% year-on-year for us,” he noted.

He added that India is expected to host around 2,500 GCCs by 2030, up from 1,600 currently.

While acknowledging the persistent softness in hiring from traditional IT services companies, he pointed out that Quess Corp's exposure to this segment is limited to about 15-16%. The demand for tech talent from non-tech companies and GCCs is more than compensating for this slowdown.

Shares of Quess Corp closed 0.94% lower at Rs 264.05 apiece on the NSE, while the benchmark Nifty50 ended at 24,500.9, down 0.85%.