Training and skilling business is still hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak, said Suraj Moraje, ED and Group CEO of Quess Corp. However, he added that the business started turning around in Q2 and is seeing a pace of pick up in recovery.

“We started turning business trajectory around the middle of Q2 last year. So, if you take Q1 as a deep drop, Q2 as a slightly less drop, in Q3 we are halfway back up to the previous highs of Q4 both in terms of headcount and revenue. If you normalize for the two businesses which have been hit hard still by COVID, the training and skill development business, and the food business, our EBITDA is flat year-on-year (YoY). So, we are quite pleased with the rate of the recovery overall. We do think there are some ways to go, but we are clearly seeing the pace of recovery picking up and that is encouraging,” he said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

Moraje believes that they will end the year close to pre-COVID levels. He also expects FY22 to be a good year and hopes to achieve a return on equity (ROE) of 20 percent by FY23.

“Our global technology solutions, which is now our largest segment by EBITDA, is operating already at pre-COVID levels. In workforce management, we are halfway back to the peak. We would like to exit this year at the same place we entered and we are trying very hard to get there. It is not easy, but we think that we have a shot of getting there,” he said.

“On the operating asset management side, the facilities security business is getting back to pre-COVID levels in several verticals – industrial, healthcare, BFSI. I think it is education and IT services where the opening up is taking a bit longer. As and when they open up that should also get back. I don’t want to give specific guidance, but we do think next year is going to be a good year and we would like to get to a 20 percent ROE by FY23,” he added.

On Wistron's investigation, Moraje said that the company takes compliance very seriously and that they are working with the authorities. However, he said that they are very bullish about the future of manufacturing in India.

“That is one sector that will grow and there will be further needs for manpower there. So, we all are more determined to make that work,” he said.

Watch the video for more.

(Edited by : Anshul)