General information and entertainment, not investment advice. The author is not a SEBI-registered adviser or research analyst. No recommendation, no promised returns. Markets carry risk including loss of capital. Figures may not be current. Consult a registered adviser before acting.
1. Opening Hook
Redington spent a year reorganising its software, cloud and security lines into one global vertical called SSG, then held a half-day event to explain what that vertical is. The headline number arrived in the first minute: a $2.2 billion business, 17% of the group, two years ago just 12%.
The very next minute, the Finance Director corrected the host. She said SSG grew 37%. He said no, that is the rupee figure flattered by depreciation; in dollars it is 29%. Management started the event by deducting eight points from its own growth rate. That is either unusual candour or a Finance Director who cannot let a number pass unaudited.
Either way, the rest of the day was a pitch: own the platform, attach services, compound the recurring revenue, double the business in three years. What follows is what they said, and what the data sheet says back.
2. At a Glance
- SSG revenue: $2.2bn, +29% (USD) – The host’s 37% lasted one slide before the Finance Director marked it down to 29%.
- SSG = 17% of group revenue – Up from 12% two years ago. Hardware kept growing too, so the ratio crept rather than leapt.
- Recurring revenue: 74% of SSG – Was 72% the prior year and 69% in FY23. The annuity is building one point at a time.
- Group FY26 PAT: ₹1,284 Cr – Down from ₹1,821 Cr in FY25; other income on the same sheet went from ₹854 Cr to ₹33 Cr.
- Group FY26 sales: ₹1,19,162 Cr, +20% – The top line did its job. The bottom line had a different year.
- SSG gross margin target: 5.5%–6% – The group’s highest-margin vertical operates at a number most businesses would call a rounding error.
- Top 6 vendors: 70%+ of SSG revenue – Microsoft, AWS, Autodesk, Red Hat, Fortinet, Palo Alto. Concentration, management said, “pretty much the trend across the industry.”
3. Management’s Key Commentary
The day ran on verbatim conviction. A decode of each follows.
S.V. Krishnan, correcting the host live: “37% is basis Indian rupee reporting… we have a slight disadvantage.” (The growth rate survived ninety seconds before its own CFO revised it down to 29%.)
Sayantan Dev, on the strategy: “own the platform, attach services, manage the life cycle and compound recurring revenue.” (Four verbs, one of which — compound — is still in the future tense at 74% recurring.)
S.V. Krishnan, on the investment figures on his own slide: “Don’t take it as hard coded. I need to admit since it’s a new business model. In the past, we haven’t tracked some of these investments so meticulously.” (The numbers are on the slide. The slide is, per management, indicative.)
Sayantan Dev, on cloud timing: management said they had “literally put the cart before the horse,” investing ahead of the market. (A phrase usually deployed as a warning, here repurposed as a strategy.)
V.S. Hariharan, on the Microsoft Frontier badge: “Honestly, the title is just a vanity.” (Said immediately after several minutes spent explaining the title.)
V.S. Hariharan, rating his own professional-services maturity: “On a scale of 1 to 10… we are 2 to 3, and we really need to get to 8 to 9.” (The margin story rests on the one capability management graded a 2 out of 10.)
Kalyan Pola, AWS, on the relationship: both sides “call it as GOAT, which is the greatest of all type partnership.” (The acronym was explained. The explanation did not
