Quite candid and not the one to mince his words, Tyagrajan says that companies, many of which typically chart their growth strategies for the new business year in December are expected to get conservative with their budget allocations against the background of shaky macroeconomic fundamentals. In the month of December budget meetings start happening. Boards meet. They then think about next year’s plans, growth numbers. I expect a degree of conservatism in budgeting, people will be told to conserve budgets. Then they will prioritise even more,” says Tyagarajan.

For all the concerns around a slowdown in the US that contributes significantly to the business for companies like Genpact, Tyagarajan says the economic scenario in the country is comparatively better than Europe. “Clearly, Europe is more acute in feeling recessionary impact. Businesses see the early part of the next year to be a real problem. It seems like the UK is already in recession. So, that means consumers are actually going to shrink back a little more. We are seeing that as the narrative in Europe more than in other places. In the US, we actually haven’t yet seen consumer narrative change. However, clients are very wary. Everyone is doing scenario planning. It wasn’t a big topic two years back. Anyone who is planning a 6%, 7%, 8% growth is also saying what if my growth is 0%? In the US, everyone is planning what happens if, but everyone is hoping that actually it will never get there. So, the hope is a little better in the US. Energy prices haven’t gone up much,” says Tyagarajan.