Govt Sector, BFSI And Pharma Key Business Drivers: Qlik India MD

The major business growth drivers for data analytics and artificial intelligence player Qlik are the government sector, Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI), and pharma, according to the US-based firm's Managing Director (India), Varun Babbar.

"We see a lot of initiatives by various state governments as well as central governments where they are revamping their whole data ecosystem and building the right data foundations to build AI-driven projects," Babbar told PTI.

Banking and financial services have been early adopters of technology, and they were the first ones to build data warehouses and data lakes, he said, adding that there is a lot of innovation being done by them.

Besides, he said, pharma is another vertical where a lot of traction is taking place.

On the government side, he said, the company is working with three states apart from various public sector companies, including Indian Oil Corporation.

"We see a lot of initiatives built by various state governments as well as various departments of the central government where they are revamping their whole data ecosystem and building the right data foundations to build AI-driven projects," he said.

Going forward, engagement with the government sector is going to grow, and the company, with its partners are in talks with many state governments on various projects.

These engagements are at various stages, and definitely more wins would take place during the year, he said.

In addition, he said, a lot of banks have come up with projects like revamping their whole data ecosystem and building something around it.

Talking about revenue flow, Babbar said both the public sector and BFSI together would be around 60%.

"I would say both are equal businesses. Some year someone does better than the other," he said.

From a headcount perspective, he said, India is the third largest employer within the Qlik ecosystem after the US and Sweden.

India has around 400 employees, and the team is growing at a very fast pace across the segment, including research and development, marketing and sales.

Qlik senior vice president (APAC) Maurizio Garavello said India is the fastest-growing market because companies are increasingly adopting frontier technologies.

"We are happy with the India business... we made significant investment in technology and hired more people last year," Garavello said