Ashok Soota of Happiest Minds dismisses allegations of a stock sale

Happiest Minds Founder Ashok Soota Denies Stake Sale Buzz, Bets on AI-First Strategy

Bengaluru: Ashok Soota, founder and chairman of Happiest Minds Technologies, on Tuesday dismissed media reports suggesting he was exploring a stake sale, asserting that he remains firmly in control of the mid-cap IT firm.

“I am very much in charge,” Soota told reporters after the company announced its third-quarter results. “There is nothing more important than the company’s AI-first initiative, and I am confident it is going to lead us to much higher growth rates.”

An industry veteran, Soota directly holds a 32% stake in Happiest Minds and an additional 11.8% through his promoter entity, Ashok Soota Medical Research LLP. Together, his holdings are valued at over ₹2,600 crore based on the company’s latest market capitalisation.

Soota previously founded Mindtree, which later became LTIMindtree following its merger, and also played a key role in scaling Wipro’s IT services business.

AI Push and Growth Targets

The Bengaluru-headquartered company plans to declare its annual guidance next quarter and begin reporting AI revenue starting Q1 of FY27. Chief executive Joseph Ananthraju said the company intends to double its AI team strength to 1,000 next year from the current 500.

Happiest Minds has set a long-term target of achieving $1 billion in revenue by FY31. However, Soota acknowledged that industry-wide slowdowns over the past three to four years have impacted growth momentum.

“Our goal of $1 billion will remain, but clearly there is a need to review that goal,” he said.

The company’s AI-led services strategy gains added significance amid recent market volatility following AI lab Anthropic’s launch of Claude Cowork, which has intensified disruption across the IT services landscape.

Q3 Performance

Happiest Minds reported a 19.6% year-on-year decline in net profit for the third quarter at ₹40.30 crore, impacted by one-time charges of ₹22 crore related to labour code changes. Sequentially, profit fell more than 25%.

Revenue rose 10.7% year-on-year to ₹587.56 crore and increased 2.4% sequentially.

The company served 297 clients during the December quarter, adding 11 new clients over the three-month period.