Ashok Soota of Happiest Minds dismisses allegations of a stock sale

Happiest Minds founder and chairman Ashok Soota on Tuesday dismissed media speculation about a potential stake sale, asserting that he remains fully in control of the mid-cap IT services firm and focused on its AI-first growth strategy.

Responding to questions after the company announced its third-quarter results, Soota said he was “very much in charge” and emphasized that the company’s artificial intelligence–led transformation remains the top priority. He added that the AI-first initiative is expected to drive significantly higher growth rates in the coming years.

Soota currently holds a 32% direct stake in the company, along with an additional 11.8% through his promoter entity, Ashok Soota Medical Research LLP. Combined, his shareholding is valued at over Rs 2,600 crore based on the firm’s latest market capitalisation.

An industry veteran, Soota previously founded Mindtree, now merged into LTIMindtree, and earlier played a key role in scaling the IT services business of Wipro.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company said it will issue its annual guidance next quarter and begin separately reporting AI-driven revenue starting in the first quarter of FY27. Chief executive Joseph Ananthraju said the firm plans to double its AI workforce to about 1,000 employees next year from the current 500.

Management reiterated a long-term revenue target of $1 billion by FY31 but indicated that the goal may be reviewed in light of prolonged industry slowdown over the past few years. Executives said AI-led services will be central to achieving future growth, especially amid recent market volatility following new agentic AI product launches by firms such as Anthropic.

For the December quarter, the company reported a 19.6% year-on-year decline in net profit to Rs 40.30 crore, impacted by one-time charges related to labour code changes amounting to Rs 22 crore. Sequential profit fell more than 25%.

Revenue rose 10.7% year-on-year and 2.4% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 587.56 crore. The client base increased to 297 during the quarter, with 11 new clients added over the three-month period.