Tata Comm bets on platform of digital solutions in post Covid world

Tata Communications is transforming itself into a digital platforms solutions provider from a products company under new CEO Amur S Lakshminarayanan, who took over nine months back. Speaking to ET’s Devina Sengupta in his first media interaction since taking over, Lakshminarayanan though said that Covid-19 has impacted its deal pipeline, delaying conversions and is hopeful that the second half of FY2021 will be better than the first. He added that high debt continues to be a problem and the company is looking at various options to bring it down, including infusing equity, paring investments and selling its land parcels. Edited excerpts:

What has changed for the company since you took over?

First, how we can enable borderless growth. Second, so if you look at the B2B manufacturing world, people have shifted from purely manufacturing products to shifting to services. How do I do service them? Third, continuing focus on efficiency and productivity, digital through automation; fourth, managing risk; and fifth, how do I bring agility to the organization?