Resilience
Relationships
Reinvention
31st Annual Report 2020-21
Message from the Chairman
I am delighted to share with you our 31st Annual Report for the Financial Year 2020-21. This year was extremely challenging and let me start with a prayer for all those we lost during the pandemic, with gratitude for all the Corona Warriors who served the sick and needy, and with hope and best wishes for times ahead.
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We delivered strong performance and shareholder value in FY 2021
FY21 full year performance
Revenue ($ million)
502
566
FY20
FY21
+12.9%
Revenue (₹ million)
+17.4%
35,658
41,879
FY20
FY21
EBIT (₹ million)
+55.2%
(Margin 9.2%)
FY20
FY21
3,270
(Margin 12.1%)
5,075
PAT (₹ million)
+32.4%
(Margin 9.5%)
3,403
(Margin 10.8%)
4,507
FY20
FY21
US $3.3M committed in support of COVID-19 efforts globally to bring relief to those in need.
21K+
PPE kits provided to
frontline workers
42K+
Face shields, masks, gloves
and hygiene kits provided
32
Hospitals, NGOs and Govt.
departments supported
17K+
Food ration kits provided to families
16
Communities supported
with disinfection efforts
4K+
Hours volunteered
by our employees
Year in Review
Reflecting upon the past year, there were three key attributes to the Company’s success — resilience, relationships and reinvention. These three themes were a constant for Persistent through these challenging times and will provide the foundation for our future growth.
Resilience
Despite the many pressures our employees faced during the pandemic, they remained strong, flexible and focused.
We delivered high performance and business continuity not only for Persistent, but most importantly, our clients. Along with our partner ecosystem, we worked diligently to ensure our clients established the new cloud-enabled digital foundation that is critical to not only help them survive the last year but thrive in the long term.
Relationships
Our teams proactively partnered with their clients as they
charted their paths to digital acceleration.
We provided differentiated, higher value and outcome-based engagement models. This last year strengthened our relationships for the long term and it was a visceral reminder that our decades of focus on client centricity is a winning strategy. Relationships matter.
Reinvention
We drew on our 30 years of Digital Engineering experience
and deep expertise in the latest cloud technologies.
We now work with our clients to imagine, engineer, modernize, and manage the new software required to run fully digital businesses. Change is constant and it is only accelerating. As a Company we continue to reinvent ourselves, evolving into a solution-focused innovator, bringing the most advanced technologies to our clients to help them do the same.
Year in Review
Digital Acceleration
Persistent Foundation
Our value in the era of digital acceleration
We imagine
We design and deliver new digital experiences, revenue streams and business models to meet rising customer expectations and accelerate growth.
Reimagined transplant patient care with a patient mobile application to manage and adhere to their daily and long term health goals by staying engaged, informed and connected.
Integral part of digital health initiatives enabling self and home care for dialysis patients in the UK and North America.
We engineer
We streamline software engineering to drive greater innovation, efficiency and resiliency across products
and platforms.
Engineered a new services assurance platform for 5G, delivering a 50% reduction in the time to market.
Responded to disruption with
accelerated development of cloud enabled solutions for the connected enterprise using modern architectures.
We modernize
We reinvent applications, infrastructure, and processes for greater agility by taking full advantage of automation, AI and cloud.
Accelerated its digital transformation journey, reducing manual efforts and increasing agility with an
Azure-based data platform.
Developed automation to support real-time fund accounting including operational transaction recording and overall financial close management.
We manage
We transform and optimize operations, systems,
and product development to reduce costs and
facilitate growth.
Improved speed-to-market and performance through cloud-led transformation and software development.
Enabling seamless onboarding of the buyers, sellers and financial institutions, facilitating efficient trade finance and increase the adoption of the platform.
The opportunities in telecom and media are vast. We have successfully expanded our relationships in many of our largest accounts with clients trusting us to bring the right combination of industry skills and flexibility. We are excited to build on this strong foundation to bring business value to new clients in this space.
Jiani Zhang
EVP Enterprise Modernization and Telco Unit at Persistent
Telecom and
Media
The rapid evolution of technology is transforming this industry. The reality of cloud native virtual networks, the prospect of 5G and the established growth of AI and automation have changed how telco networks are built and operated. Likewise, the ubiquity of cloud...
The past year has emphasized a shift in client buying and operating behavior with software engineering and modernization being key priorities. Our expertise in Digital Engineering and strategic investments in solution accelerators along the software lifecycle, play a crucial role in helping software companies build software faster and efficiently.
Karthik Balasubramanian
SVP — Software and Hi-Tech at Persistent
Software and
Hi-tech
The ‘once-in-a-100-years’ black swan event forced a reset on business models, operations and, hence engineering roadmaps. While non-discretionary spending was scrutinized, discretionary engineering spend was largely unaffected or even enhanced. This shifted...
The healthcare and life sciences industries rallied to respond to the events of the past year and we are proud to partner with our clients in their response, be it extending patient engagement and care beyond physical facilities, bringing COVID diagnostics to market or ensuring
the safe delivery of vaccines. We look forward to helping our clients leverage technology to address the lessons learned over the past year.
Joe Paxton
SVP Healthcare and
Life Sciences at Persistent
Healthcare and
Life Sciences
Healthcare and Life Sciences organizations faced unique challenges over the past year. Responding to the pandemic strained the entire system and accelerated industry transformation. While the industry responded to a common challenge, the impact ranged from devastating to accelerating...
These unprecedented challenges have led institutions to turn to their trusted partners. I’m pleased that our clients view us as that trusted partner, and we continue to deepen and expand our relationships. Additionally, we have made significant inroads with industry analysts and associations to increase market awareness of our deep industry and technology expertise.
Bipin Sahni
Head of BFSI Strategy at Persistent
Banking, Financial Services and Insurance
The industry played a critical role in responding to the unprecedented challenges of the past year. Financial institutions were required to quickly rally to deploy new government programs designed to provide vital financial resources to businesses and citizens as economies...
Learn more
The ‘once-in-a-100-years’ black swan event forced a reset on business models, operations and, hence engineering roadmaps. While non-discretionary spending was scrutinized, discretionary engineering spend was largely unaffected or even enhanced. This shifted focus on revamping product and platform strategy to reimagine, engineer and manage new software required to run cloud-centric, digitally-focused sets of services and work patterns. Technology waves fueled by cloud, 5G and Edge, AI/ML, rising customer needs, activist investors, cybersecurity imperatives, speed to market, and the war for talent are all defining software roadmaps amid intense competition. Against this backdrop, software companies are reinventing themselves — by building resilient new software, reimagining legacy systems with greater efficiency and lower cost structures.
Edge computing to be the new norm. Increasingly workloads will migrate to the edge as customers demand private, secure, low latency cloud-to-edge models.
1
The Way Forward
Learn more
Learn more
Learn more
Dear valued Shareowners,
Persistent announced a donation of ₹250M ($3.3M) towards COVID relief, rehabilitation, and research. So far, we have donated ₹220M ($3M), and our goal is to channel these funds to meet short-term humanitarian requirements as well as for longer-term research and development work. The Persistent Foundation is driving COVID relief efforts across India, the United States, Canada, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Israel. In India, the Foundation has worked in the four states where Persistent has a presence — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and Goa. In addition to the work of The Persistent Foundation, almost $500,000 has been distributed to charities in North America impacted by and helping those affected by the crisis.
We are committed to the communities we operate in and are humbled to be able to help with COVID relief efforts in any way we can.
The year began with uncertainty, and the first task was to secure the...
Resilience
Partnering with HealthTechs and FinTechs to maintain continuity and engagement during the pandemic while helping them reimagine systems to enable hyperpersonalized, touchless digital experiences.
Relationships
Working with software clients across every stage of the software product lifecycle to improve engineering velocity, expand ecosystems, accelerate product roadmaps, and speed to market.
Reinvention
Helping enterprise software providers reinvent applications, operations, and infrastructure to support remote workforces and services.
Partnering with our clients to drive Digital Acceleration
There's so much about the way we work with Persistent. I'm extremely impressed by the technical depth of the team but also their flexibility.
They have been very open to new ideas and how we work together.
We don't view Persistent as a partner; we view Persistent as an extension of our team, and they are committed. Committed to winning with us. And that has really impressed me.
Michael Miller
CIO at
Fusion Connect
More code will be generated than written. Automated code generation and AI will democratize software development
enabling code reusability, speed, and resilience.
2
Human-centric design and low aperture interfaces will accelerate the shift towards modern software architectures
like micro frontends, progressive web applications and AR/VR.
3
The industry played a critical role in responding to the unprecedented challenges of the past year. Financial institutions were required to quickly rally to deploy new government programs designed to provide vital financial resources to businesses and citizens as economies were shuttered. All of this while the institutions themselves were dealing with the same challenges as others — not the least of which was enabling their entire employee population to work from home. This real-world stress test exposed the maturity of individual institutions’ digital journey and highlighted the need to accelerate the transformation.
The Way Forward
Enabling embedded and decentralized finance solutions that offer traditional financial instruments, without relying on established financial intermediaries.
1
Established banks and credit unions are accelerating their
adoption of Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) to capitalize on innovation brought on by Open Banking initiatives.
2
Industry consolidation to gain market access and efficiencies will drive technology integration initiatives.
3
Partnering with our clients to drive Digital Acceleration
Resilience
Partnering with large financial institutions to simplify their IT ecosystem to reduce cost, improve resiliency and enable employees to work from anywhere.
Relationships
Enabling mid-size banks and insurance carriers to seamlessly deliver services via digital channels, providing customers with value added interactions that improve their financial well-being.
Reinvention
Helping established financial institutions modernize back-office operations by implementing automation to reduce complexity, cost and improve customer experience.
We selected Persistent to help us build our platform for a number of reasons, including their deep experience and expertise in the digital banking space and with the core component technologies we have chosen, and also because our strategy aligns closely with Persistent’s own thinking on Digital Mosaic. We took great comfort in finding that alignment, and as a result, our relationship is proving to be a great fit.
Sudip Dasgupta
Chief Technology Officer at Monument Bank
Healthcare and Life Sciences organizations faced unique challenges over the past year. Responding to the pandemic strained the entire system and accelerated industry transformation. While the industry responded to a common challenge, the impact ranged from devastating to accelerating. The adoption of technology, especially virtual and telemedicine, was advanced 5-10 years in months. And, it led to an unprecedented acceleration of pace for delivery of diagnostic capabilities, including PCR tests and vaccines. However, a common theme across all industry sectors was the adoption of technology to improve care, accelerate discovery and reduce costs. The heavy financial burden on healthcare providers led to the unbundling of the hospital, with primary care emerging as the cutting edge of care moving ahead, a positive trend as many have identified the crucial role of primary care in the triple aim of care.
The Way Forward
Enabling interoperability, connectivity and data sharing through the adoption of regulatory compliant cloud solutions.
1
Expanded and sustained use of digital health platforms and devices to enable care delivery regardless of location and time.
2
Software-driven devices, diagnostics and therapeutics that increase speed and accuracy and deliver improved outcomes.
3
Partnering with our clients to drive Digital Acceleration
Resilience
Supporting healthcare and life sciences organizations as they reprioritized resources to accelerate discovery of new diagnostics and enable frontline employees to respond to the pandemic.
Relationships
Partnering with healthcare providers to fully exploit digital channels to ensure patient and clinician relationships were sustained when facilities were overburdened or closed.
Reinvention
Working with device and scientific instrument providers to modernize
their offerings by utilizing technologies like AI and ML to improve performance and provide better patient outcomes.
We selected Persistent based on their breadth of expertise, including building microservices, data integration, and understanding how healthcare data comes in and resides in our system — then bringing it all together by creating a software solution that helps us interact easily with patients and patients with us.
Amitabh Shukla
SVP Technology at CareDx
The rapid evolution of technology is transforming this industry. The reality of cloud native virtual networks, the prospect of 5G and the established growth of AI and automation have changed how telco networks are built and operated. Likewise, the ubiquity of cloud platforms has enabled media and innovative unified communication as a services (UCaaS) companies to create highly customized, experience-led over-the-top (OTT) applications while unlocking new business models. Yet in many ways it was COVID-19 which proved to be the unwelcome industry catalyst in 2020. Disruption caused by the pandemic reached every corner of the industry, supercharging digital transformation as mature peers and laggards alike accelerated investments in exciting ways.
The Way Forward
The hyperconnected age will lead to AI-powered closed-loop network operations driving greater flexibility and reduced costs.
1
5G will drive a virtuous cycle of innovation in new products which will spur additional demand and more investment.
2
Transformations will evolve as cloud-to-edge use cases drive new investments in intelligent edge capabilities.
3
Partnering with our clients to drive Digital Acceleration
Resilience
Helping telecom provide next-gen networks with AI and network automation technologies that deliver new services and innovation at speed while providing exceptional CX.
Relationships
Assisting media and UCaaS players evolve faster by transforming the entire value chain with innovative solutions across the collaboration ecosystem.
Reinvention
Partnering with all sectors to develop 5G networks and hybrid clouds that are more flexible to operate and experiences that are engineered to be game changing.
Our customers need custom features for their deployment, but we can’t overturn our entire roadmap to develop customized features. With the help of Persistent, who understands our technology at a fundamental level, we are able to create custom solutions which we can then roll into our standard product. It creates a multi-milliondollar business which we would not be able to touch otherwise.
Vince Fortin
SVP of Engineering at Empirix
Today, Persistent creates value across a continuum of client needs, leveraging our deep Digital Engineering expertise and extensive industry knowledge.
Message from the Chairman
Dear valued Shareowners,
I am delighted to share with you our 31st Annual Report for the Financial Year 2020-21. This year was extremely challenging and let me start with a prayer for all those we lost during the pandemic, with gratitude for all the Corona Warriors who served the sick and needy, and with hope and best wishes for times ahead.
The year began with uncertainty, and the first task was to secure the safety of all employees and their families. Next, we fully enabled the team to work from home. Our team adapted very quickly to working remotely, and I am proud to state that we did not miss a beat and were able to meet our customers’ requirements and ensure that all the deliverables were met. This demonstrated resilience.
Next, we reached out to our customers, suppliers, and vendors to assure them of our support. We explored all the obvious and the latent customer requirements and challenged our team to see beyond and rise above. Relationships are strengthened by being there in times of need. This was our time to deliver, and that is exactly what we did!
The events of the year have challenged the status quo and forced us to take a fresh look at our assumptions. The technology roadmap has accelerated, and circumstances have forced us to look at new ways of getting things done. The world is ready to reinvent itself.
We believe that we are responsible to a broader group of stakeholders that includes our employees and their families, our customers, our vendors and suppliers, our shareowners, and the society at large. This year put our claims to the test, and I am very satisfied with how we delivered to our stakeholders as a responsible Company.
We continue to make progress on environmental goals. We commissioned a new rooftop solar plant on one of our buildings and launched a program to plant more than 50,000 trees. With reduced travel, the carbon footprint improved. We are working on ways to get to Net-Zero in the next five years.
Anticipating the magnitude of the pandemic, our leadership team stepped up and had no hesitation in committing Rs. 250 million for global COVID response and relief. Persistent Foundation was impactful in deploying the funds to support frontline workers with food and PPE kits, hospitals with ventilators, oxygen concentrators, and other lifesaving equipment, and supporting other vital projects. I am grateful to Persistent Covid Warriors, a dedicated team of selfless volunteers who went above and beyond to help colleagues in crisis. Doing good is energizing, and this will motivate us to do more.
I would like to commend Sandeep Kalra and the hardworking Persistent Team for delivering spectacular results. During the year, we supported and grew existing customers and forged relationships with new customers. In addition, we built new offerings and worked hard on improving our processes to deliver better results for our customers. This will hold us in good stead as we look ahead. We added nearly 3000 new members globally to our team; incidentally, most of them are working from home and have not visited our office locations!
As we enter our fourth decade, we couldn’t be better poised. We have a new leadership team that was tested and has come off with flying colours. We have built new relationships with our customers and are reinvigorated as we look ahead. As a leader in Digital Engineering and Enterprise Modernization, our expertise is in great demand.
Finally, I thank all of you, our committed shareowners, for your continued support and affection. You inspire us to stretch above and beyond!
Message from the Chairman
Dear valued Shareowners,
The year began with uncertainty, and the first task was to secure the safety of all employees and their families. Next, we fully enabled the team to work from home. Our team adapted very quickly to working remotely, and I am proud to state that we did not miss a beat and were able to meet our customers’ requirements and ensure that all the deliverables were met. This demonstrated resilience.
Next, we reached out to our customers, suppliers, and vendors to assure them of our support. We explored all the obvious and the latent customer requirements and challenged our team to See Beyond and Rise Above. Relationships are strengthened by being there in times of need. This was our time to deliver, and that is exactly what we did!
The events of the year have challenged the status quo and forced us to take a fresh look at our assumptions. The technology roadmap has accelerated, and circumstances have forced us to look at new ways of getting things done. The world is ready to reinvent itself.
We believe that we are responsible to a broader group of stakeholders that includes our employees and their families, our customers, our vendors and suppliers, our shareowners, and the society at large. This year put our claims to the test, and I am very satisfied with how we delivered to our stakeholders as a responsible Company.
We continue to make progress on environmental goals. We commissioned a new rooftop solar plant on one of our buildings and launched a program to plant more than 50,000 trees. With reduced travel, the carbon footprint improved. We are working on ways to get to Net-Zero soon.
Anticipating the magnitude of the pandemic, our leadership team stepped up and had no hesitation in committing
₹ 250 million for global COVID response and relief. Persistent Foundation was impactful in deploying the funds to support frontline workers with food and PPE kits, hospitals with ventilators, oxygen concentrators, and other lifesaving equipment, and supporting other vital projects. I am grateful to Persistent COVID Warriors, a dedicated team of selfless volunteers who went above and beyond to help colleagues in crisis. Doing good is energizing, and this will motivate us to do more.
I would like to commend Sandeep Kalra and the hardworking Persistent Team for delivering spectacular results. During the year, we supported and grew existing customers and forged relationships with new customers. In addition, we built new offerings and worked hard on improving our processes to deliver better results for our customers. This will hold us in good stead as we look ahead. We added nearly 3,000 new members globally to our team; incidentally, most of them are working from home and have not visited our office locations!
As we enter our fourth decade, we couldn’t be better poised. We have a new leadership team that was tested and has come off with flying colours. We have built new relationships with our customers and are reinvigorated as we look ahead. As a leader in Digital Engineering and Enterprise Modernization, our expertise is in great demand.
Finally, I thank all of you, our committed shareowners, for your continued support and affection. You inspire us to stretch above and beyond!
Anand Deshpande
Founder, Chairman and Managing Director
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Message from the CEO
Dear valued Shareowners,
We sincerely hope you and your loved ones are keeping safe amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
As Anand elaborated in his letter, we have been focused on ensuring the wellbeing of our employees, their families, the local communities we live in as well as strong business continuity for our clients throughout these difficult times. We are confident that with time the pandemic will be behind us, and brighter times lay ahead for...
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Message from the Chairman
Dear valued Shareowners,
I am delighted to share with you our 31st Annual Report for the Financial Year 2020-21. This year was extremely challenging and let me start with a prayer for all those we lost during the pandemic, with gratitude for all the Corona Warriors who served the sick and needy, and with hope and best wishes for times ahead.
The year began with uncertainty, and the first task was to secure the safety of all employees and their families. Next, we fully enabled the team to work from home. Our team adapted very quickly to working remotely, and I am proud to state that we did not miss a beat and were able to meet our customers’ requirements and ensure that all the deliverables were met. This demonstrated resilience.
Next, we reached out to our customers, suppliers, and vendors to assure them of our support. We explored all the obvious and the latent customer requirements and challenged our team to see beyond and rise above. Relationships are strengthened by being there in times of need. This was our time to deliver, and that is exactly what we did!
The events of the year have challenged the status quo and forced us to take a fresh look at our assumptions. The technology roadmap has accelerated, and circumstances have forced us to look at new ways of getting things done. The world is ready to reinvent itself.
We believe that we are responsible to a broader group of stakeholders that includes our employees and their families, our customers, our vendors and suppliers, our shareowners, and the society at large. This year put our claims to the test, and I am very satisfied with how we delivered to our stakeholders as a responsible Company.
We continue to make progress on environmental goals. We commissioned a new rooftop solar plant on one of our buildings and launched a program to plant more than 50,000 trees. With reduced travel, the carbon footprint improved. We are working on ways to get to Net-Zero in the next five years.
Anticipating the magnitude of the pandemic, our leadership team stepped up and had no hesitation in committing Rs. 250 million for global COVID response and relief. Persistent Foundation was impactful in deploying the funds to support frontline workers with food and PPE kits, hospitals with ventilators, oxygen concentrators, and other lifesaving equipment, and supporting other vital projects. I am grateful to Persistent Covid Warriors, a dedicated team of selfless volunteers who went above and beyond to help colleagues in crisis. Doing good is energizing, and this will motivate us to do more.
I would like to commend Sandeep Kalra and the hardworking Persistent Team for delivering spectacular results. During the year, we supported and grew existing customers and forged relationships with new customers. In addition, we built new offerings and worked hard on improving our processes to deliver better results for our customers. This will hold us in good stead as we look ahead. We added nearly 3000 new members globally to our team; incidentally, most of them are working from home and have not visited our office locations!
As we enter our fourth decade, we couldn’t be better poised. We have a new leadership team that was tested and has come off with flying colours. We have built new relationships with our customers and are reinvigorated as we look ahead. As a leader in Digital Engineering and Enterprise Modernization, our expertise is in great demand.
Finally, I thank all of you, our committed shareowners, for your continued support and affection. You inspire us to stretch above and beyond!
Message from the CEO
Dear valued Shareowners,
FY2021, for us, was a year of disciplined execution and strengthening the muscles for the next phase of growth, while leveraging Persistent’s solid foundation built over the past 30 years. We invested in bringing in new senior talent across functions, deepening our capabilities across industries and service lines, enhancing our partner ecosystem and embarking on disciplined client centricity.
As a result, we not only survived but thrived through a year of virtual operations and personal challenges. That is not to minimize the personal challenges and loss many of our team suffered but to recognize their incredible strength in persevering in the face of such hardships. Thank you.
We ended the year at US $566.1M, representing an industry leading +12.9% growth year on year in US$ terms and 17.4% in Indian Rupee terms. We built on the transitional foundation of FY2021, extending our reach into key industry sectors of banking, financial services and insurance; healthcare and life sciences; software and hi-tech; and other emerging industries like telco and media. Improved operational rigor and optimization across all businesses and enabling functions also aided in delivering significant improvements in EBIT, ending +55.2% year on year.
This performance and market momentum resulted in record high stock performance, driving our market cap to over US $2B.
The digital imperative became more urgent across our technology as well as enterprise clients. We saw our technology clients accelerate their product roadmaps leveraging our Digital Engineering expertise and our enterprise clients push their modernization agenda faster, re-imagining their business models and IT landscape to operate more efficiently and to better interact with customers.
Our enterprise clients continued to integrate legacy IT systems with the latest cloud environments and sought guidance from Persistent in selecting from the myriad of available cloud components — what we refer to as a Digital Mosaic. They are modernizing information infrastructures — eliminating siloes of data and processes and integrating critical information into single dashboards. We’ve seen dramatic progress around automation — implementing artificial intelligence and machine learning to replace labor-intensive processes and streamline formerly disconnected systems. And central to this transformation has been leveraging data — tapping into and utilizing the massive amounts of data in a meaningful way, across the enterprise.
Serving our clients effectively continued to be possible through the incredible partner ecosystem we inhabit. From our strategic partners like AWS, Salesforce, Microsoft and IBM to smaller niche players around the world — together we are developing cutting edge solutions to solve today’s most pressing business and technology issues.
With the accelerated growth, we welcomed over 3,000 new team members, bringing us to a total of 13,680 employees globally. This infusion of talent included the acquisition of CAPIOT, bolstering our expertise in the fast-growing enterprise integration market.
Sandeep Kalra
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer
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And finally, we continued to gain important industry recognition. Competing against 4,000 other IT companies, Persistent won the prestigious ISG 2020 Star of Excellence Award™ for core technologies globally, as well as for North America, APAC geographies and for Banking Financial Services and Insurance, Healthcare and Life Sciences industry verticals globally. These coveted awards are particularly meaningful because they are the result of direct feedback ISG received from over 100 Persistent clients.
Looking forward to FY2022, our clients will no doubt continue to accelerate their digital transformation and we will remain focused on delivering exceptional Digital Engineering and Enterprise Modernization expertise to help them. We know challenges remain across global markets and in particular in India, but we will continue to lean on the resiliency we demonstrated this past year.
In summary, we have brought strong momentum to our business, building the muscle to expand and are confident in delivering continued growth over FY2022. Our journey towards the next phase of Persistent has just begun and we remain bullish on our prospects for the future.
Message from the Chairperson
What an unforgettable year this has been! The coronavirus pandemic hit the world like a hurricane more than a year ago and humankind continues to be in its path of destruction even today. This past year has been incredibly challenging as the virus surged across geographies inflicting the loss of loved ones on so many people. Bound to our homes, we expended ourselves in every direction like never before...
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Persistent Foundation
Areas of focus
\
Associated with 11 partners impacting 5,063 students
Kiran — Girls Scholarship and Mentoring Program
34
Placed in leading
IT companies
164
Students being
supported
42
New students
onboarded
122
Mentored virtually
by employees
Education
COVID-19 Relief Work
Food Support
16K+
Families with
ration kits
29K+
Individuals with
cooked meals
Medical Care Support
4
Government
departments
14
Hospitals
and NGOs
700K+
Population
disinfected
Persistent committed to COVID-19 relief, coordinated by Persistent Foundation. We helped organizations as well as migrant laborers, urban poor, tribal, disabled, sex workers and transgenders by offering food and medical support.
\
IT support to 3 schools
\
Specialized programs for students from 6 schools to help enhance reading and writing skills
Community Development
\
Honeybee keeping training and distribution of solar insecticide
\
Livestock Support Center — ₹ 142.53 L saved over 3 years
\
33 individuals trained in bamboo craft by experts
Integrated watershed development program (Varude village)
4K+
Total beneficiaries
600+
Families benefited by
constructing open wells
40M+
Liters of storage
capacity created
2.1K
Hectares of
land treated
\
4,000+ trees planted
Health
\
Supported 14 centers for 5 services (surgery, orthodontic treatment, speech therapy, nutrition support and follow-up)
\
Livestock Support Center — ₹ 142.53 L saved over 3 years
\
Support across 8 curative healthcare services
Support for individuals affected by facial cleft and cleft palate
1,756
PPE kits provided for surgeries
4
PPE kits
per surgery
51:49
Male:Female
gender ratio (%)
3,735
Total Individuals
supported
Message from the Chairperson
What an unforgettable year this has been! The coronavirus pandemic hit the world like a hurricane more than a year ago and humankind continues to be in its path of destruction even today. This past year has been incredibly challenging as the virus surged across geographies inflicting the loss of loved ones on so many people. Bound to our homes, we expended ourselves in every direction like never before.
The vaccine is a silver lining to these dark clouds, and we hope the sun will shine upon us again one day very soon.
The Foundation’s activities suffered greatly due to the frequent lockdowns in India, but we adapted to these changes and were able to gather speed later in the year. Schools remained closed for students for the entire academic year. We modified our education related initiatives to provide LAN and Wi-Fi connections to study centers and support classes. This was aimed at helping students of grades 9 and 10 to complete their curriculum and get extra coaching in science and mathematics. We were able to help and touch the lives of 5,000 students! The Kiran Girls Scholarship Program took place in the month of February as soon as college admissions were completed.
The Cleft Lip and Palate Program had to be curtailed because of travel restrictions, but despite these limitations, we performed more than 400 surgeries. We also conducted more than 3,700 cataract surgeries. The Mobile Medicare Unit helped us reach many people to execute our health projects. Community development projects were delayed but gained momentum towards the end of the year. The construction of open-wells and vocational training in bamboo art helped generate income and a source of livelihood for many households.
The Persistent Board members and the Foundation Trustees have been very supportive and encouraging of all our ideas and thoughts. The Persistent COVID Relief Fund has proved extremely helpful in carrying out extensive initiatives to help overcome this difficult time. This Fund has helped to provide cooked meals and food kits to more than 35,000 people and medical help to more than 65,000 individuals. We have been able to provide ventilators, oxygen concentrators, neonatal ventilators, refrigerators for vaccine storage, multipara monitors, heart-lung machines, RNA and DNA extraction machines, and much more. We also funded research on the epidemiological and serological survey done by IISER, Pune, India. We helped set up two COVID care centers and equipped them with furniture and consumables. PPE kits were provided to hospitals to protect the staff while treating patients. A lifesaving oxygen supply pipeline was funded at a charitable hospital to help patients requiring oxygen. One of the largest beneficiaries has been sanitation workers, senior citizens at old age homes, differently abled individuals, and daily wage earners who lost their jobs. We feel a sense of moral responsibility in enabling and empowering those around us to live healthy, safe lives.
In all this turmoil, I find strength, optimism, and motivation to continue helping society in this time of need. It is indeed heartening to see the collective dedication of so many like-minded individuals and corporations. The community has come together to face the calamity by sourcing medical equipment, hospital consumables, vaccines, and food kits to help people in need. This show of unity and collaboration between the corporations and the Indian Government has been the true epitome of democracy.
I am sincerely grateful to all our dear colleagues for their generous donations. We were able to increase the scope of our contributions quite significantly because of your generosity. The food kit distribution drives demonstrated the spirit of camaraderie and dedication during these trying times. My gratitude to those who helped us in the procurement of the medical equipment at reasonable prices. My team has been working tirelessly throughout and has been very committed and enthusiastic in driving our mission forward.
As the new year begins, we were faced with tougher challenges and the need to provide faster and quicker solutions to address the current situation and to be prepared for all possibilities in the days to come. I would like to send out a collective prayer into the universe to end these trying times and for the world to be a happy and safe place for humankind, once again!
Sonali Deshpande
Chairperson
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Environmental, Social and Governance
We acknowledge that success is not a stand-alone concept, rather it is an intricate combination of many factors including environmental and social responsibility, and corporate governance.
Social
Nurturing our people, diversity & inclusion
45
nationalities
32%
women
Work-Life Balance
Ensured with comprehensive employee welfare policies
Flagship social programs
Including hackathons to drive innovation
and training to nurture talent
Governance
Leading with integrity
60%
Independent directors on board
Code of Conduct
Strong adherence
Excellence in Corporate Governance
Environmental
Conserving our climate
2 windmills 2.1 MW each
1.2 MW solar rooftop
Reducing ~6K tons of CO2 per year
Adopted ISO 14064
GHG Emission Monitoring and Reduction/
Neutralization
Share Price
BSE (₹)
540
April 2020
June 2021
Dividend Per Share
2,522
542
April 2020
2,518
June 2021
NSE (₹)
Our share price increased by 363%
between April 1, 2020 and June 10, 2021.
₹10
2017-18
₹11
2018-19
₹12
2019-20
₹20
2020-21
Dividend proposed for this financial year nearly doubled.
Market Capitalization
Ranking
BSE (In ₹ Million)
41,280
April 2020
192,778
June 2021
NSE (In ₹ Million)
41,468
April 2020
192,492
June 2021
Our Market Capitalization increased 4 times between April 1, 2020 and June 10, 2021.
Our BSE and NSE ranks improved by 64 points.
BSE
April 2020
282
April 2021
217
+65
+65
NSE
April 2020
277
April 2021
213
+65
+64
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Year in Review
Message from the Chairman
Our Response to the Pandemic
FY2021 Performance Highlights
Environmental, Social and Governance
Digital Acceleration across Industries
Partner Ecosystem
Awards and Recognition
Persistent Foundation
Message from the CEO
Headcount
We saw a 28.7% uptick in our employee growth last year.
Ingredients of our success
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31st Annual Report 2020-2021
Awards and Recognition
Based on feedback of 100+ of our clients, ISG recognized us as the leader for Customer Excellenceacross our core service delivery and exceptional culture alignment with our clients’ organizations.
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Leader for 8 Years
Leader in consumer and enterprise software engineering as well as digital, AI, cybersecurity and platform categories.
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Forrester Wave™
Cited as a Strong Performer in the The Forrester Wave™: Digital Process Automation Service Providers, Q3 2020
Ecological Sustainability Award
At iNFHRA's Workplace Excellence Awards
2020-21
CLO of the Year Award
At TISS LeapVault CLO Awards 2019
Best Corporate University Winner
7 times at TISS-LeapVault Awards 2019
Excellence in Learning & Development
At SHRM HR Excellence Awards 2019
Golden Peacock
Two times Winner for Excellence in National Training (2018-2020)
For Excellence in Corporate Governance
(2020, IT sector)
Most Successful LnD Programs
Recognized for the 5th time under Training magazine’s Training Top 100 (formerly Top 125) award winners (2017-21)
Healthy Workplace Award
At Arogya World’s 2019 Platinum Healthy Workplaces
Talent Development Winner
5 times as per ATD's 2020 BEST Award
Winners List
LearningElite
One of the best organizations worldwide for learning and development, and for exemplary workforce development strategies.
Distinguished Services in IT Sector
Runner-up at The Economic Times Rotary CSR Awards (2019)
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Preferred Partner
Preferred Partner for Digital Transformation including Cloud-Based Technologies, serving credit unions in the U.S.
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Client & Partner Profiles
Several profiles highlighting our joint work with clients/partners Dassault Systèmes, Ellie Mae
and IBM for Cloud Paks
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Constellation Research
Shortlisted for Innovation in Services and Engineering for 2nd year in a row
Leader
in ISG’s Salesforce Ecosystem Partners 2021 Report for Salesforce Services in U.S.
Rising Star
for Digital Transformation in 2020 ISG Provider Lens™ — Healthcare Digital Services U.S.
Leader
in Digital Transformation in 2020 ISG Provider Lens™ Archetype report for Next-gen ADM Services
Top 15 Sourcing Standout
for Managed Services in ISG Global Index™ “Booming 15” — 5 consecutive quarters
Everest PEAK Matrix®
Star Performer and a Major Contender in Software Product Engineering Services (2021)
Major Contender for Salesforce Healthcare Services (2020)
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Partner of the Year 2020
In the category of Innovation across OutSystems, Banking and Snowflake
Rising Star Partner
Recognized for accelerated relationship growth in 2020.
We are thankful to our Persistent family, partners and clients and will continue to value and grow these relationships. We are all in this together.
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31st Annual Report 2020-2021
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Persistent Warriors fighting COVID-19
My sister and her husband tested positive for COVID-19, and on Gudi Padva, my sister's SPO2 levels dropped to alarming levels. Persistent Warriors immediately helped me find oxygenated beds for both. My relief was short-lived as I had to deal with a critical shortage of Remdisivir needed for their treatment. While Nagpur District Collector's office approved and allotted the medicines, the Persistent Warrior team's operational acumen ensured last-mile delivery and administering of medication to my family at the hospital without any delay or hiccups. Kudos to Persistent Corona Warriors, may their tribe increase!
Anand Dudhmande
Senior Portfolio Consultant
In April, three members of my family tested positive for COVID. Feeling helpless as no hospital beds were available anywhere, I reached out to Persistent Warriors. Within minutes, Ruchita from the team called, took all details, and immediately swung into action. She was constantly in touch with us, providing medical and moral support until my family was home safe.
Thanks to Persistent Warriors for the support during difficult times.
Ankita Mahasaheb
Assistant Manager, HR
My entire family was infected with COVID. I was hospitalized and my mother and wife's health was deteriorating. Harshawardhan Pandit and Kamna Arora helped us in every way — from helping source Remdesivir for me to finding an oxygenated bed for my mother, whose condition turned critical. I shudder to think what would have happened without Harsh and Kamna's support. I am also grateful to Sachin Khot, Rajeev Reddy, and Sameer Bendre for staying in touch throughout and ensuring we are getting the required medical care.
Thanks again to my wonderful colleagues. I am going to remember this my entire life.
Mitesh Dhoble
Lead Software Engineer
31st Annual Report 2020-21
Resilience
Relationships
Reinvention
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Partnerships
Resilience, relationships, and reinvention also reflect our work with our partner ecosystem.
Reinvention
The adoption of cloud and other cutting-edge technologies including machine learning, automation, and artificial intelligence have rapidly become necessary for so many credit unions as they reinvent their business during this period of digital acceleration. As NAFCU’s Preferred Partner for Digital Transformation, Persistent will help our industry continue to grow and innovate with proven technologies and best practices.
Randy Salser
President at NAFCU
Relationships
Enterprises are modernizing their data for the next
10 years of innovation. The DataStax and Persistent partnership brings leading enterprises and developers
the open data stack and the domain and implementation expertise that accelerates their success.
Chet Kapoor
Chairman and CEO at DataStax
Resilience
For years, OutSystems and Persistent have maintained a strong strategic partnership. Together, we help businesses of all sizes develop, deploy and manage critical apps at speed — enabling them to respond to market opportunities and continuously deliver value through software-driven innovation.
Paulo Rosado
CEO and Founder
at OutSystems
With the complexities and challenges brought on by the pandemic, we realized how critical our partnerships were and how much we would have to further lean on them to maintain continuity for our clients. As clients across every industry demanded new ways of engaging with their customers and employees, we were able to work in lockstep with our partners to continue to deliver exceptional results. The changing landscape also brought to the fore the need for new relationships that enabled us to keep improving the way we solve client problems — and more cost effectively. We therefore expanded our partner ecosystem in key strategic areas. Finally, we continue to reinvent the way we work with our partners and clients. With the urgency of moving to a new way of business, time to value became ever more critical. Automation and speed became the mantra. We closed the year with a stronger partner ecosystem, deeper relationships and with goals firmly focused around client value and centricity.
Appreciation
Thanks to their gift of support, Persistent Systems helped RMHC provide mission critical resources to families with ill or injured children in 62 countries and regions around the world. In addition, support enabled RMHC Global to continue to move our mission forward and support local Chapters that temporarily re-purposed programs to provide places of respite for healthcare professionals that are fighting on the frontlines of the pandemic. During these unprecedented times, we extend our sincerest appreciation to Persistent Systems for helping us provide overnight stays, meals, comfort and compassionate care to families who must travel long distances to seek medical care for their child, healthcare workers and communities across the globe.
Ronald McDonald House Charities® is grateful to our partners at Persistent Systems for their generosity despite the tremendous challenges in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards Persistent Foundation for providing aid in the form of 20 oxygen concentrators in this time of need. Such contributions strengthen our efforts to provide relief to those in need. These are truly unprecedented times but we’re grateful that organizations like Persistent Foundation are stepping up to do their bit in this fight against COVID-19.
On behalf of Seva Sahayog Foundation, I would like to thank Persistent Foundation for their timely response and financial support provided for various COVID-19 relief activities undertaken by us. The support positively impacted hundreds of families and children from low income groups in and around Pune where no other support was formerly available. Families of school van drivers, salon shop workers were able to survive these lockdown phases on this support even though their only source of income was lost. Students from the underprivileged communities could continue to learn from home using the free Wi-Fi internet provided by Digital Setu project. This has helped them continue education in new normal times. We are grateful for the continued support extended in these challenging times.
Shailesh Ghatpande
Operations Director at Seva Sahayog Foundation
The prompt and timely support from Persistent Foundation ensured that the city's most marginalised frontline workers — the waste pickers — survived the crippling pandemic and the lockdown, and their nuanced requirements going beyond requirements of immediate relief, were taken care of. On behalf of the waste pickers, we deeply appreciate the sensitivity, flexibility, openness and promptness of the support given.
Laxmi Narayanan
Managing Trustee at Kashtakari Panchayat
Kelly Dolan
President and CEO
at Ronald McDonald House Charities®
Dr. Pramod Sawant
Honourable Chief Minister of Goa
I am delighted to share with you our 31st Annual Report for the Financial Year 2020-21. This year was extremely challenging and let me start with a prayer for all those we lost during the pandemic, with gratitude for all the Corona Warriors who served the sick and needy, and with hope and best wishes for times ahead.
We sincerely hope you and your loved ones are keeping safe amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As Anand elaborated in his letter, we have been focused on ensuring the wellbeing of our employees, their families, the local communities we live in as well as strong business continuity for our clients throughout these difficult times. We are confident that with time the pandemic will be behind us, and brighter times lay ahead for all of us.
2018
8,976
2019
9,962
2020
10,632
2021
13,680
Digital Engineering
Expertise
Client
Centricity
Employee
Resiliency
Operational
Excellence
Message from the Chairman
Message from the CEO
Dear valued Shareowners,
FY2021, for us, was a year of disciplined execution and strengthening the muscles for the next phase of growth, while leveraging Persistent’s solid foundation built over the past 30 years. We invested in bringing in new senior talent across functions, deepening our capabilities across industries and service lines, enhancing our partner ecosystem and embarking on disciplined client centricity.
As a result, we not only survived but thrived through a year of virtual operations and personal challenges. That is not to minimize the personal challenges and loss many of our team suffered but to recognize their incredible strength in persevering in the face of such hardships. Thank you.
We ended the year at US $566.1M, representing an industry leading +12.9% growth year on year in US$ terms and 17.4% in Indian Rupee terms. We built on the transitional foundation of FY2021, extending our reach into key industry sectors of banking, financial services and insurance; healthcare and life sciences; software and hi-tech; and other emerging industries like telco and media. Improved operational rigor and optimization across all businesses and enabling functions also aided in delivering significant improvements in EBIT, ending +55.2% year on year.
This performance and market momentum resulted in record high stock performance, driving our market cap to over US $2B.
The digital imperative became more urgent across our technology as well as enterprise clients. We saw our technology clients accelerate their product roadmaps leveraging our Digital Engineering expertise and our enterprise clients push their modernization agenda faster, re-imagining their business models and IT landscape to operate more efficiently and to better interact with customers.
Our enterprise clients continued to integrate legacy IT systems with the latest cloud environments and sought guidance from Persistent in selecting from the myriad of available cloud components — what we refer to as a Digital Mosaic. They are modernizing information infrastructures — eliminating siloes of data and processes and integrating critical information into single dashboards. We’ve seen dramatic progress around automation — implementing artificial intelligence and machine learning to replace labor-intensive processes and streamline formerly disconnected systems. And central to this transformation has been leveraging data — tapping into and utilizing the massive amounts of data in a meaningful way, across the enterprise.
Serving our clients effectively continued to be possible through the incredible partner ecosystem we inhabit. From our strategic partners like AWS, Salesforce, Microsoft and IBM to smaller niche players around the world — together we are developing cutting edge solutions to solve today’s most pressing business and technology issues.
With the accelerated growth, we welcomed over 3,000 new team members, bringing us to a total of 13,680 employees globally. This infusion of talent included the acquisition of CAPIOT, bolstering our expertise in the fast-growing enterprise integration market.
And finally, we continued to gain important industry recognition. Competing against 4,000 other IT companies, Persistent won the prestigious ISG 2020 Star of Excellence Award™ for core technologies globally, as well as for North America, APAC geographies and for Banking Financial Services and Insurance, Healthcare and Life Sciences industry verticals globally. These coveted awards are particularly meaningful because they are the result of direct feedback ISG received from over 100 Persistent clients.
Looking forward to FY2022, our clients will no doubt continue to accelerate their digital transformation and we will remain focused on delivering exceptional Digital Engineering and Enterprise Modernization expertise to help them. We know challenges remain across global markets and in particular in India, but we will continue to lean on the resiliency we demonstrated this past year.
In summary, we have brought strong momentum to our business, building the muscle to expand and are confident in delivering continued growth over FY2022. Our journey towards the next phase of Persistent has just begun and we remain bullish on our prospects for the future.
We are thankful to our Persistent family, partners and clients and will continue to value and grow these relationships. We are all in this together.
Sandeep Kalra
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer
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