The Bengaluru-headquartered firm, which offers staffing, workforce management and technology outsourcing services, ended the June quarter with an employee count of 597,000. Since then, it has added at least 6,000 workers, chairman Ajit Isaac told ET.
“We are among the largest globally in headcount and perhaps the youngest to achieve this in a span of 17 years,” he said.
Quess, founded by Issac in 2007, has Toronto-based Fairfax as the largest shareholder with a stake of 34%.
Vasanthi Srinivasan, who teaches HR at IIM Bangalore, said Quess has contributed in three ways. “Firstly, it is moving low-skilled workers into the formal sector on a large scale that guarantees minimum wages and social security,” said Srinivasan. “They are adding jobs amid concerns of jobless growth, and thirdly, most new joinees are first-generation workers from their families. On the job, they acquire skills and a sense of identity by being a part of a large company.”
Experts say staffing firms are emerging structurally important to the Indian economy as the government increases focus on job creation.
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Demerger plan on trackThe company has moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), seeking approval for its proposal to split the company into three, as it has received no-objection letters from the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange.
On February 16, the board of Quess decided to split the company into three independent listed entities—Quess Corp, Digitide Solutions and Bluspring Enterprises—which the chairman said would sharpen management focus and help create tailor-made capital allocation strategies for each platform and unlock shareholder value.
As per the proposal, Quess will handle workforce management after the division of businesses, while business process management, insurance services and HR outsourcing will come under Digitide. Bluspring’s businesses will include facility management, industrial services and investments.
The proposal still needs NCLT, shareholder and regulatory approvals. Isaac expects the process to be completed by the first quarter of 2025-26. Guruprasad Srinivasan, the current chief executive officer, will lead Quess after the demerger, the chairman said.
“Our staffing business and payroll business are already the largest in India, while the tech business is among the top three,” Isaac said. “. Similarly, our operating asset management business is the largest by the number of services we provide. So, all of them have a distinct market leadership position, and the demerger will provide them with an ability to attract differentiated pools of capital.”
By creating focused, independent entities, each can leverage its core strengths, enhancing operational efficiency and strategic clarity, ultimately driving superior returns for shareholders, he said.
Digitide aims to be a $1-billion company in about five years, up from $320 million revenue that the businesses that will come under it generate, Isaac said to highlight the growth potential to be unlocked by the demerger.
