IT doyen Ashok Soota nets second record IPO with Happiest Minds

BENGALURU: Amidst a pandemic, when the global markets are fighting for survival, IT services firm Happiest Minds Technologies opted to go public. Led by 77-year-old IT industry veteran Ashok Soota, the Bengaluru-based company debuted on the stock exchanges at Rs 351 per share, which is almost double the IPO price of Rs 161 per share.  

Soota, who is well-known in Dalal Street for his phenomenal success with tech firm Mindtree’s IPO in 2006, has delivered even better this time. While Mindtree’s IPO was oversubscribed by 103 times, the Rs 702-crore IPO of Happiest Minds was subscribed a whopping 151 times and according to industry analysts, it is one of the most successful public issues of the last decade. 

Unlike the young, first-generation entrepreneurs who are dominating the tech start-up ecosystem, Soota is an experienced leader who has built both tier 1 and mid tier companies like Wipro and Mindtree when the dot com boom and digital waves disrupted the IT industry.

The unique ways in which Soota is able to tap into the investor’s mindset and launch his companies successfully on stock exchanges is, perhaps, elusive to the new-gen start-up founders, for whom profitability still remains a concern. 

Currently Soota’s Happiest Minds is drawing 97 per cent of its revenues from digital business unlike the bigger players in the Indian IT industry and the company has been growing at a CAGR of 20 per cent compared to a 7-8 per cent traditional IT sector growth average.  Meanwhile, the focus on emerging technologies like Internet of Things and virtual augmented reality has led to a minimal Covid-19 led disruption in the business of Happiest Minds.