We want to grow revenues five times in 10 years: PwC India chairman

Interview with Shyamal Mukherjee

Five months after taking charge as chairman at PwC India, Shyamal Mukherjee shares with Sudipto Dey the audit-cum-advisory firm’s India strategy. Edited excerpts:

How different will be PwC India from a strategy perspective?

Today we are growing at around 20% year-on-year, with 15,000 people. Our vision is to grow our revenues five times over the next 10 years and have 25,000 people with 1,000 partners, over that period.  We currently have 350-odd partners. We will continue to invest in our core business of tax, assurance and advisory.

Are there still any lingering influences of Satyam, after so many years?

I do not think so. We have moved long away from that position. We have continuously delivered work, won work, and that can only be possible as we consistently invested in our processes, the way we work, technology, etc. Given the cross-section of industries we work with, we are able to bring in business knowledge. That gives us a distinctive edge in the market place and we continue to grow.

So, what will be the key drivers of this growth?

There are four areas we want to focus on. First, we want to invest in priority services, such as, digital, cyber, data analytics and tax technology, besides others. Then, we see business of consulting evolving in such a manner whereby strategy experts will get into implementation, and implementation experts get into strategy. We are uniquely placed with strategy and implementation teams placed together. Given our multi-competency depth, strategy-to-execution is what we are going to focus on.  

The number three focus area is people. How do we get people ready for the future? We are focussing on diversity of talent. Apart from hiring chartered accountants and MBAs, we also hire engineers, data scientists, people who have patents against their names and ex-regulators, among others. We are looking at diversity at the workplace, both in term of gender diversity and generational diversity.

The fourth focus is about being responsible business. It is not about revenue always, but to be relevant to society and solve important problems.

Going forward, businesses will not do everything themselves. You have to build alliances. That is also a core strategic direction we will take. How do you build alliances with people to bring in specialised competencies and work together? Today, we work with several technology companies and with specialists on a need basis.

How do you plan to deal with the challenge of employee attrition?

There is only one way to meet this challenge. You have to build an institution that is value-driven, purpose-led. We are very proud of our culture and the value system. This is the only way we can grow and attract talent. Our attrition level is lower than the industry level.

Any concern areas?

There are no concerns but an opportunity and a challenge. It is around diversity – gender diversity and generational diversity. Diversity (in the workplace) is a business imperative. We need the best the talent to work for us. We do very well at the entry level – taking in around 35% women. But as they move up, we lose good numbers. That is something we are working on, training people top-down, at times dealing with unconscious biases.  

The second challenge is working with millennial, the workforce of the future, who are 82% of our employees. We have created value system bottoms-up, asking the millennial what is that they want (in a workplace).

What is your assessment of mandatory audit firm rotation on the India business?

We welcome the step as it will improve the quality of audit. However, it will require relationships to be built again, both for the company and the assurance partner. We have been building on this for the last couple of years, working on our processes, training our people — not only on skills but also on understanding the needs of a new client. If this helps build trust, improve audit quality, then all this is worth it. We are well geared to manage the change.

The mandatory firm rotation process is still not over. We are very confident we would regain our position as a leading practitioner.

What are your objections to making joint audit mandatory for companies?

We don’t have any objections per se. We will follow what the regulators decide. If joint audit helps to improve audit quality, it will then be a welcome change.

How ready is corporate India for the goods and services tax (GST)?

This is the first time the government is saying that it is ready, but corporate India is not. It is a challenge corporate India has to take on. As in any big change, the first quarter may be a challenge.

There are service providers willing to help medium and small players. Many big corporates are helping their vendors to get GST-ready. This is a journey we all have to go through for a better future.