SIFY Sify Technologies Limited

Item 3. Key Information

Selected Financial Data

Summary of Consolidated Financial Data

You should read the summary of consolidated financial data below in conjunction with the Company's consolidated financial statements and the related notes, as well as the section entitled “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects,” all of which are included elsewhere in this Annual Report. The summary of consolidated statements of income data for the five years ended March 31, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 and the summary of consolidated Statement of Financial Position as of March 31, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes to the consolidated financial statements which were prepared and presented in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as issued by International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Historical results are not necessarily indicative of future results.

* Excluding dividend distribution tax

Notes

Exchange Rates

Our functional currency is the Indian rupee. The exchange rate between the rupee and the U.S. dollar has changed substantially in recent years and may fluctuate substantially in the future. Our exchange rate risk primarily arises from our foreign currency revenues, receivables and payables.

On March 31, 2019, the reference rate in the City of Mumbai for cable transfers in Indian rupees as published by RBI was ₹69.17.

On June 14, 2019, the reference rate in the City of Mumbai for cable transfers in Indian rupees as published by RBI was ₹69.56

Capitalization and indebtedness

Not applicable.

Reasons for the offer and use of proceeds

Not applicable.

Risk Factors

Investing in our American Depositary Shares, or ADSs, involves a high degree of risk. This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including those described in the following risk factors and elsewhere in this Annual Report. If any of the risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the market price of our ADS could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment. Our business, operating results, financial performance, or prospects could also be harmed by risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently do not believe are material.

Risks Related to our Company and Industry

We may incur losses in the future and we may not achieve or maintain profitability.

We have in the past incurred losses. We may, in the future incur net losses and suffer negative operating cash flows. We expect to increase our expenditures as we continue to expand our services, promote our brand, and invest in the expansion of our infrastructure. In the future, we may incur expenses in connection with investments in Network, Data Centers and related infrastructure. Accordingly, we will need to significantly increase our revenues in order to improve our profitability. We cannot assure you that we will improve our profitability or that we will not incur operating losses in the future. If we are unable to become consistently profitable and incur losses, we may be unable to build a sustainable business and our results of operations may be adversely affected. In this event, the price of our ADSs and the value of your investment may decline.

The economic environment, increased pricing pressure and decreased utilization rates could negatively impact our revenues and operating results.

IT spending of customers are often driven by the growth in revenue of customers. Economic slowdown in the past has reduced the IT spending budgets of our customers and have in the past adversely affected and may in the future adversely affect our revenue, profitability and results of operation. Economic performance also has a bearing on our Infrastructure and e-Learning businesses. Currency fluctuations will also lead to variations in revenue. The Infrastructure Managed Services, National Long Distance (‘NLD’) / International Long Distance (‘ILD’) business and eLearning may be affected in terms of prices and growth.

With regard to the Indian economy, we continue to experience pricing pressure due to competition in the markets in which we operate. Lead times for orders or contracts have become much longer, as we have longer credit periods. These factors have affected and will affect the growth in demand for our corporate business.

We have invested in building our network and Data Center infrastructure and will continue to invest in the future. Our utilization rates of the existing and prospective infrastructure will determine our profitability. We may not utilize our infrastructure at the optimum level which would impact our revenue.

Reduction in IT spending, inability to maintain or increase prices, extended credit terms, and inability to maintain or improve utilization rates of our infrastructure may adversely impact our revenues, gross profits, operating margins and results of operations.

Currency fluctuations may affect the results of our operations or the value of our ADSs.

The exchange rate between the Indian rupee and the U.S. dollar has changed significantly in recent years and may continue to fluctuate substantially in the future.

We use derivative financial instruments, such as foreign exchange forward and option contracts, to mitigate the risk of changes in foreign exchange rates on accounts receivable, payable, foreign currency loans and forecast cash flows denominated in US dollar. We may not purchase derivative instruments for an amount sufficient to adequately insulate ourselves from foreign currency exchange risks. We have entered into interest rate swap transactions. Exchange rate fluctuations may adversely impact our cash flows on these transactions.

For the year ended March 31, 2019, we have recognized a net loss of ₹ 51.94 million ($0.75 million) arising on account of foreign exchange fluctuations. If foreign exchange currency markets continue to be volatile, such fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates could materially and adversely affect our results of operations in future periods. Also, the volatility in the foreign currency markets may make it difficult to hedge our foreign currency exposures effectively and make them expensive.

Further, the policies of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may change from time to time which may limit our ability to hedge our foreign currency exposures adequately. Full or increased capital account convertibility, if introduced, could result in increased volatility in the fluctuations of exchange rates between the Indian rupee and US dollar. Our US customers may leave us exposed to fluctuation in revenues based on currency fluctuations.

A significant portion of our revenue arises from exports in foreign currency and hence, any appreciation/ depreciation in Indian Rupee in relation to any foreign currency may affect our revenue and profits.

In July 2012, the RBI has mandated conversion of foreign currency balances held in Export Earners Foreign Currency (EEFC) Accounts, before the end of subsequent month of the transaction. This may force us to convert foreign currency balances to INR at an unfavorable exchange rate, which will result in loss.

Intense competition in our businesses could prevent us from improving our profitability and we may be required to further modify the rates we charge for our services in response to new pricing models introduced by new and existing competition which would significantly affect our revenues.

We operate in extremely competitive markets where the investment capability and the size of the competitors are much larger than us. For instance, Our corporate network services compete with well-established companies, including Bharti Airtel, Tata Communications Limited, the Government-owned telecom companies, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited and new players like Reliance Jio.

The large players, may enjoy significant competitive advantages over us, including greater financial resources, which could allow them to charge prices that are lower than ours in order to attract customers. These factors could result in actual average selling prices of our services. With the entry of a new player, the retail internet market has seen significant reduction in prices by all operators due to pricing strategy by the new entrant. This has significantly affected the customer base and the average revenue per user of the existing operators. We may see similar trends in enterprise market as well, which may have an adverse effect on our revenues and operating margins. We expect the market for Internet access and other connectivity services to remain extremely price competitive. Increased competition may result in operating losses, loss of market share and diminished value in our services, as well as different pricing, service or marketing decisions. In addition, competition may generally cause us to incur unanticipated costs associated with research and product development. Additionally, we believe that our ability to compete also depends in part on factors outside our control, such as the availability of skilled employees in India, the price at which our competitors offer comparable services, and the extent of our competitors’ responsiveness to their clients’ needs. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully compete against current and future competitors, or that we will not lose key employees or customers to such competitors, which may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Pressure on margins may affect the results of our operations.

Our margins have been relatively stagnant due to competitive pricing pressure. While we seek to manage costs efficiently, there may not be improvements in margins due to the sustained pricing pressure. Unavailability of tax loss carryforwards might impact our margins in the current year and the future. Our continuing investment in infrastructure may result in lower margins in the initial years of investment and may or may not improve further, which will adversely impact our margins.

We may fail to meet such obligations of export under the Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme (EPCG) and be subjected to penalties.

We have been availing duty benefit for our import of capital goods under the EPCG scheme available for export of services. Under the scheme, we are eligible to import capital goods without import duty with an obligation to generate export earnings to the extent of 6 times the value of such duty benefit availed within a period of 6 years over and above the annual average export obligation. Though there are export earnings at present, we may fail to fulfill such obligation in the future. In the case of a shortfall in fulfilment of such export obligation, we may be subjected to repay the duty benefit availed along with interest.

Our business will suffer if we fail to anticipate and develop new services and enhance existing services in order to keep pace with rapid changes in technology

The technology market is characterized by rapid technological change, evolving industry standards, changing client preferences and new product and service introductions. Our future success will depend on our ability to anticipate these advances and develop new product and service offerings to meet client needs. We may fail to anticipate or respond to these advances on a timely basis, or, if we do respond, the services or technologies that we develop may not be successful in the marketplace. We have introduced and propose to introduce several solutions involving complex delivery models combined with innovative outcome-based pricing models. The complexity of these solutions, our inexperience in developing or implementing them and significant competition in the markets for these solutions may affect our ability to market these solutions successfully. In addition, better or more competitively priced products, services or technologies that are developed by our competitors may render our service non-competitive.

Despite our best efforts to optimize costs, our future operating results could fluctuate in part because our expenses are relatively fixed in the short term while future revenues are uncertain, and any adverse fluctuations could negatively impact the price of our ADSs.

Our revenues, expenses and operating results have varied in the past and may fluctuate significantly in the future due to a number of factors, many of which are outside our control. A significant portion of our investment and cost base is relatively fixed in the short term. Our revenues in the foreseeable future will depend on many factors, including the following:

We plan to continue to expand and invest in our network infrastructure. Many of our expenses are relatively fixed in the short-term. We cannot assure you that our revenues will increase in proportion to the increase in our expenses. We may be unable to adjust spending quickly enough to offset any unexpected revenues shortfall. This could lead to a shortfall in revenues in relation to our expenses and adversely affect our revenue and operating results.

You should not rely on yearly comparisons of our results of operations as indicators of future performance and operating results may be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors. In this event, the price of our ADSs may decline.

Our business may not be compatible with delivery methods of Bandwidth / Connectivity developed in the future.

We face the risk that fundamental changes may occur in the delivery of connectivity services in India. The internet market has seen significant changes in the recent past from connecting fixed offices/locations to connecting mobile devices to connecting disparate automated devices and to continue to be relevant in this dynamic and disruptive environment, we will have to develop new technology or modify our existing technology to accommodate these developments. Our pursuit of these technological advances, whether directly through internal development or by third-party license, may require substantial time and money. We may be unable to adapt our connectivity service business to alternate delivery means and new technologies may not be available to us at all. We provide wireless connectivity on the 5.7 GHz spectrum allotted to us by the Wireless Planning Commission. This spectrum has been de-licensed during the current fiscal year. Hence, we do not own any licensed spectrum to offer our services. We are exploring suitable spectrum that is technically feasible to offer our services. We may not get the licensed spectrum. The spectrum allocation may be inconsistent with industry standards. The current capacity may be insufficient to offer a breadth of services. The Government may issue instructions to release the spectrum that we hold. High cost of spectrum acquisition may be inconsistent with our revenue and cost models. We may not keep up with the pace of change that takes place in wireless technologies.

Disruption to our Networks and Data Center infrastructure may cause us to lose customers and/or incur additional expenses.

Some of the risks to our infrastructure include physical damage, security breaches, capacity limitations, power surges or outages, software incompatibility and/or other disruptions beyond our control, such as natural disasters and acts of terrorism. From time to time in the course of our operations, we experience disruptions in our service due to factors such as cable damage, theft of our equipment, inclement weather and service failures of our third-party service providers. Disruptions may cause interruptions in service or reduced capacity for customers, either of which could cause us to lose customers, or increase our operating expense, both of which could adversely affect our business, revenues and cash flows.

The success of our business depends on wider reach of network in India, which may be slowed or halted by technical obstacles in India. 

Wider reach of network and availability of increased bandwidth in India, which is the measure of Network penetration, has been relatively low and slow compared to many developing and developed countries in the world. Though in recent years, the coverage of tier III/tier IV cities has increased, there may be many technical obstacles to accessing certain regions which may increase the cost of building the network and thereby cause a slowdown or halt the consumption of network services, which will adversely affect our operations.

We may be compelled to surrender or pay additional for the spectrum that was allotted to us earlier.

The Government of India has asked us to surrender certain range of spectrum allotted to us and the same was auctioned as BWA spectrum. The Government also has asked the company to make payment for certain spectrum from the date of allotment or to surrender the same. The other range of spectrum that we have been operating, 5.7 GHz, is also close to capacity utilization and will need to be augmented in the near future. Enterprise connectivity will need licensed bands of spectrum for assured quality and security, so the non-availability of spectrum would materially adversely affect our business and results of operations. In the event of the surrender of the spectrum certain frequencies, it may hamper our future plans for expansion of services, and there are no assurances that we will be able to obtain additional replacement spectrum.

We might not be able to grow Network Connectivity services due to a declining contribution.

In the Network Connectivity business, realization could be lower year on year based on the market conditions. Every year when annual contracts come up for renewal, customers sign up for more bandwidth or more links at a lower unit price. This is offset somewhat by lower bandwidth costs, which we renegotiate with our service providers. This impacts us in two ways: first, despite an increase in sales volume, we may not see a commensurate rise in revenues; and secondly, margins in our business are continually shrinking.  Therefore, our revenue from our connectivity business may stagnate with declining bandwidth prices.

We may not be able to retain and acquire customers for our Data Centers.

In the field of Data Center services, competition from Data Center operators may attract customers away from us or make it more difficult for us to attract new customers. If competitors are more successful than us in the market, it could be difficult for us to retain and/or acquire customers. Furthermore, once customers cease using our services and choose another service provider, it may require substantial efforts in terms of cost and time to re-acquire such customers, and despite spending on such customer acquisition or retention, we may be unsuccessful in retaining such customers.

In order to improve our competitiveness, we continue to expand our Data Center infrastructure. If we are unable to attract adequate customers, we will not be able to achieve the revenues initially anticipated, which could have an adverse effect on our future results of operations and financial condition.

Our Data Centers may not be competitive enough in terms of green features.

We may fail to convert our existing Data Centers and/or build new Data Centers under the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Commercial Interior (CI) program of United States Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED certification is an internationally recognized program and is considered one of the highest standards for energy efficient constructions. The Data Center uses several green features such as site ecology, water conservation, smart energy meters and equipment, reduction of CO2 emissions, high recycle content, effective waste management and eco-friendly interiors. Increased demand for green Data Center may hamper the marketing of our existing Data Centers that are not LEED certified.

Reduction in power supply and non-availability of fuel may affect our Data Centers.

There has been acute power shortage in recent years in India and hence, there could be a reduction in the availability of electricity. Where there is non-availability of power supply in Data Centers, we resort to alternate sources of power (fuel) and the running of the Data Centers mainly depend on the availability of fuel, which will increase the cost of operations. Additionally, non-availability of power/fuel will disrupt our operations and it would be difficult for our customers to access data during such times.

We may lose relevance and revenues if we do not position our business models in line with current and future technology trends.

Technology trends, such as cloud computing, IoT, SD-WAN and software-as-a-service, allow new business models that could replace current lines of business. The markets for our services are characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, emerging competition and frequent introduction of new services. We may not successfully identify new opportunities, develop and bring new services to market in a timely manner. Unless we are able to adopt and deploy these advancements, we may lose our competitive position in the marketplace, which would adversely affect our revenues and may lead to increased customer attrition, as our customers switch to other providers.

We face risks associated with having a long selling and implementation cycle for our services that requires us to make significant capital expenditures and resource commitments prior to recognizing revenue for those services.

Data Center service typically requires significant investment of capital, human resources and time by both our customers and us. Constructing and commissioning of a Data Center requires significant capital expenditures. A customer’s decision to utilize our colocation services, our managed services or our other services typically involves time-consuming contract negotiations regarding the service level commitments and other terms, and substantial due diligence on the part of the customer regarding the adequacy of our infrastructure and attractiveness of our resources and services. Our efforts in pursuing a particular sale or customer may not be successful. If our efforts in pursuing sales and customers are unsuccessful, our financial condition could be negatively affected.

The Data Center business is capital-intensive, and our expectation for our capacity to generate capital in the short term may be insufficient to meet our anticipated capital requirements.

The costs of constructing, developing and operating Data Centers are substantial. Further, we may encounter development delays, excess development costs, or delays in developing space for our customers to utilize. We also may not be able to identify suitable land or facilities for new Data Centers or at a cost on terms acceptable to us. We are required to fund the costs of constructing, developing and operating our Data Centers with cash retained from operations, as well as from financings from bank and other borrowings. Moreover, the costs of constructing, developing and operating Data Centers have increased in recent years, and may further increase in the future, which may make it more difficult for us to expand our business and to operate our Data Centers profitably. If we cannot generate sufficient capital to meet our anticipated capital requirements, our financial condition, business expansion and future prospects could be materially affected.

Our customer base may decline if our customers or potential customers develop Data Centers or expand their own existing Data Centers.

Some of our customers may develop their own Data Center facilities. Other customers with their own existing Data Centers may choose to expand their Data Center operations in the future. In the event that any of our key customers were to develop or expand their Data Centers, we may lose business or face pressure as to the pricing of our services. In addition, if we fail to offer services that are cost-competitive and operationally advantageous as compared with services provided in-house by our customers, we may lose customers or fail to attract new customers. If we lose a customer, there is no assurance that we would be able to replace that customer at the same or a higher rate, or at all, and our business and results of operations would suffer.

Our Data Center infrastructure may become obsolete or unmarketable and we may not be able to upgrade our power, cooling, security or connectivity systems cost-effectively or at all.

The markets for the Data Centers we own and operate are characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, frequent new service introductions, shifting distribution channels and changing customer demands. As a result, the infrastructure at our Data Centers may become obsolete or unmarketable due to demand for new processes and/or technologies, including, without limitation: (i) new processes to deliver power to, or eliminate heat from, computer systems; (ii) customer demand for additional redundancy capacity; (iii) new technology that permits higher levels of critical load and heat removal than our Data Centers are currently designed to provide; and (iv) an inability of the power supply to support new, updated or upgraded technology. In addition, the systems that connect our Data Centers to the Internet and other external networks may become outdated, including with respect to latency, reliability and diversity of connectivity. When customers demand new processes or technologies, we may not be able to upgrade our Data Centers on a cost-effective basis, or at all, due to, among other things, increased expenses to us that cannot be passed on to customers or insufficient revenue to fund the necessary capital expenditures. The obsolescence of our power and cooling systems and/or our inability to upgrade our Data Centers, including associated connectivity, could reduce revenue at our Data Centers and could have a material adverse effect on us.

Procuring power at lower costs for Data Centers by the competitors may put us at a disadvantage in terms of pricing for our Data Center operations.

The single largest operating cost in Data Centers is power. Currently all Data Centers are located in proximity to, or at the edge of major urban centers such as Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Noida. Inexpensive land and labour allow companies to locate new Data Centers in remote locations. We may neither be in a position to develop Data Centers at remote locations where power is cheap nor procure power at cheaper rates for our Data Centers. If our competitors procure power at lower cost, they may have an advantage over us with respect to pricing. Our inability to offer competitive pricing may result in loss of customers and will impact our business and result of operations. The alternate sources of power are also exposed to inflation, regulation and hence, any undue price increase would affect our energy cost significantly.

If we are not successful in expanding our service offerings, we may not achieve our financial goals and our results of operations may be adversely affected.

We have plans to expand the nature and scope of our service offerings, particularly into the area of cloud and managed services, including direct private connection to major cloud platforms and the provision of cloud infrastructure. The success of our expanded service offerings depends, in part, upon demand for such services by new and existing customers and our ability to meet their demand in a cost-effective manner. We may face a number of challenges expanding our service offerings, including:

A failure by us to effectively manage the growth of our service portfolio could damage our reputation, cause us to lose business and adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, cloud and managed services may require significant upfront investment and continued expansion into these services may impact our profit margins. In the event that we are unable to successfully grow our service portfolio, we could lose our competitive edge in providing our existing cloud and managed services.

We may be vulnerable to security breaches which could disrupt our operations and have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

As we provide assurances to our customers that we provide the highest level of security, any breach on such security could be harmful to our brand and reputation. We may be required to expend significant capital and resources to protect against such threats or to alleviate problems caused by breaches in security. In addition, as we continue expanding our service offerings in managed cloud services, including direct private connection to major cloud platforms and the provision of cloud infrastructure, we will face greater risks from potential attacks because the provision of cloud-related services will increase the flow of Internet user data through the Data Center facilities we operate and create broader public access to our system. As techniques used to breach security change frequently and are often not recognized until launched against a target, we may not be able to implement new security measures in a timely manner or, if and when implemented, we may not be certain whether these measures could be circumvented. Any breaches that may occur could expose us to increased risk of lawsuits, regulatory penalties, loss of existing or potential customers, harm to our reputation and increases in our security costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, any assertions of alleged security breaches or systems failure made against us, whether true or not, could harm our reputation, cause us to incur substantial legal fees and have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.

We may encounter litigation and penalties due to breach of system and security controls by associates or sub-contractors in the online assessment services

We provide online assessment services to the Government, Public & Private sector undertakings. We provide these services through our online assessment tool. This tool engages employees and sub-contractors for student registration, exam center allocation, hall ticket issuance, question paper content creation, logistics planning, exam-day management, and results management.  We cannot assure you that there may not be any breach of the system and security controls including any malpractices by candidates or sub-contractors or any person engaged with the conduct of the examination, which may expose us to criminal or civil enforcement actions in addition to penalties and suspension or disqualifications.

Despite our endeavor to maintain the robust system the examinations, an incident occurred in the month of February 2018 where Sify observed a technical glitch in the question paper. We decided to cancel the question paper and reexamination was successfully conducted immediately. A few answer keys appeared in the social media posted by an unknown person. Pursuant to the protests carried out by certain sections of students in Delhi, the government tasked the country’s investigating agency with probing the matter. On May 23, 2018, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted inquiry at 12 locations including 4 premises of Sify Technologies Limited. Sify extended its full support by submitting the reports, statements, process documents to CBI during the preliminary enquiry.

The authorities during the inquiry collected data pertaining to the examination conducted between February 17 to 22, 2018, in an FIR (First Information Report) filed subsequently, the authorities have suspected 7 candidates (appeared for exam) cheating at different exam centers. The authorities have also named 9 personnel of a private third-party agency engaged by Sify for the exam. Further, the authorities have also named one employee of Sify in his capacity as custodian of the question paper in his individual capacity.

In a Public Interest Litigation filed before Supreme Court, pending CBI enquiry, a seven-member committee was constituted to look into the allegations and submit its report.

Although Sify Technologies was not party to the proceedings, we have extended full support and cooperation to the authorities in the investigation.

We cannot assure you that similar instances will not occur in future and any such instances may impact our reputation and cause adverse effect on our business or results of operations.

We engage third-party contractors to carry out various services.

We endeavor to engage third-party contractors with proven track records, reliability and adequate financial resources. However, any such third-party contractor may still fail to provide satisfactory services at the level of quality required by us. Such failure could harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.

We may fail to augment our skills and capability to best manage our services over Internet Protocol and data networks.

We have been able to build a reputation and maintain our lead because of our expertise and capability with the delivery and management of services over Internet Protocol and data networks. With the build-up of the capability and experience of our competitors, we are at the risk of losing market share, if we do not augment our skills and capabilities to keep our qualitative lead over them. Infrastructure such as networks is considered by customers as a commodity, and the only differential that we offer is our ability to manage and monitor services in a superior manner.

It may not be possible for us to retain our brand equity if we do not resort to huge investments for brand development.

Our competitors offering similar services are all large telecom companies who make substantial investments in building their brand image across their services. Conversely, we are focused on IT infrastructure services over data telecom networks and we believe that we enjoy the reputation of a specialist in these services. However, if we do not build up awareness as well as our brand and reputation over time, the sheer weight of investments in brand development by the larger telecommunication providers will dilute our brand recognitions and competitive advantages.

Any loss of business from our top clients could reduce our revenue and significantly impact our business.

In fiscal 2019, none of the customers accounted for revenue more than 10%. However, in fiscal 2018, our largest client accounted for 10.94% of our total revenues. The services we offer for specific clients are likely to vary from year to year. Thus, a major client in one year may not provide the same level of revenues in a subsequent year. A number of factors other than our performance could cause the loss of or reduction in business or revenue from a client, and these factors are not predictable. For example, a client may demand price reductions, change its outsourcing strategy or move work in-house. If we lose one of our major clients or if one of our major clients significantly reduces its volume of business with us, our revenues and profitability could be reduced.

If we are unable to meet our service level commitments, our reputation and results of operation could suffer.

Most of our customer contracts provide that we maintain certain service level commitments to our customers. If we fail to meet our service level commitments, we may be contractually obligated to pay the affected customer a financial penalty, which varies by contract, and the customer may in some cases be able to terminate its contract. In addition, if such a failure were to occur, there can be no assurance that our customers will not seek other legal remedies that may be available to them, including:

Any of these events could materially increase our expenses or reduce our net revenue, which would have a material adverse effect on our reputation and results of operations. Our failure to meet our commitments could also result in substantial customer dissatisfaction or loss. As a result of such customer loss and other potential liabilities, our net revenue and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We may not meet the selection criteria set for high value contracts by the Government.

As we participate in bidding for large Government of India contracts, as well as business from large corporations, we increasingly come under scrutiny for financial indicators. Unless we leverage our capacity and become consistently profitable, we could be excluded from major government projects because we fail to meet their selection criteria, which would adversely affect our business and results of operations.

The success of our business depends on our capability to develop compatible applications and tools.

As we offer our Applications Integration services to an increasing base of large corporations, we run the risk of not being able to meet their needs for scaling and sophistication in the future if we do not build the capacity to develop and integrate applications software to meet with future needs. We may not have adequate resources to develop our capability as a result of emerging sophistication required for such services. The failure to develop such resources may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We may fail to offer end-to-end managed services to sustain our position.

The telecommunications market is evolving towards service providers who offer end-to-end managed services that include managing everything down to desktops. If we are to continue to lead the market, we need to extend our bouquet of services to ensure that our portfolio grows to include managed services where we can maintain leadership. It may be difficult for us to offer end-to-end managed services to sustain our leadership in managed services without significant capital expenditures which would adversely affect our cash position and results of operations.

We may be unable to replace lost revenue due to customer cancellations, renewals at lower rates or other less favorable terms

It is key to our profitability that we offset committed recurring revenue due to customer cancellations, terminations, price reductions or other less favorable terms by adding new customers, selling more high-margin services, features and functionalities to existing customers and increasing traffic usage by all customers. Some customers may elect not to renew and others may renew at lower prices, lower committed traffic levels, or contract only for shorter time frame. Historically, a significant percentage of our renewals, particularly with larger customers, have led to declines in unit price as competition has increased and the market for certain parts of our business has saturated. Our renewal rates may decline as a result of a number of factors, including competitive pressures, customer dissatisfaction with our services, customers' inability to continue their operations and spending levels, the impact of multi-vendor policies, customers implementing or increasing their use of in-house technology solutions and general economic conditions.

In addition, as we expand the network to small cities and towns (semi – urban and rural locations), there is an operational cost involved in both the establishment and operation of these nodes. While the expansion is facilitated by a corporate order, we have to subsequently get additional business for capacity utilization in these nodes to make them profitable. If we are not able to do this rapidly by scaling up the business through these towns, we run the risk of overcapacity on the network in new areas, which results in a higher cost structure and lower margins.

Absence of policy support will hamper Internet and Data Services.

We have and continue to be subject to Indian regulations regarding the VPN license requirements, including the percentage of foreign holdings to offer VPN services as well the need for NLD/ILD licenses to offer VPN services and carrier voice services. The growth and development of the data and Internet sector is dependent on the policy support of Department of Telecommunications. Regulatory changes, as well as the continuing lack of policy initiatives to revitalize the data and Internet sector continue to be a risk.

We cannot influence policies that facilitate the growth and development of data and Internet connectivity in India. The absence of policy support for Internet and data services may hamper the growth of such services in the future, which would adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Constant improvement of technology standards/ skills and evolving tools and applications are essential to sustain our position in remote management of IT infrastructure.

We are relatively unknown outside India in comparison to other established IT players who have a large base of customers. If we are not able to constantly upgrade our technology standards and skills, and if we are unable to scale for critical mass in the near term, our competitive position would be adversely affected.

Management of IT infrastructure is dependent on sophisticated tools and applications to remotely monitor the IT infrastructure and assets of customers. If we are unable to retain our competitive advantages in terms of the evolving tools & applications, or the maturity of our processes, we may lose customers and be at a competitive disadvantage compared with our larger competitors

Emergence of Enterprise Software Suites, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Machine Learning may hamper the growth of our e-Learning stream.

The emergence of competitors such as Oracle, IBM, SAP, SumTotal and SABA offering Enterprise Software Suites for eLearning for large organizations to develop their own learning platforms could be a threat to our business in the future. We may lose our business to our competitors, and if we are unable to acquire new customers or retain our existing customers, our revenues and results of operations may suffer. Additionally, the emergence of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence could adversely impact our revenues.

If we do not continue to develop and scale compelling content, products and services, our ability to attract new customers or maintain the engagement of our existing consumers could be adversely affected.

In order to increase advertising revenues, we need to continue to increase the number of users of our sports, recipes and entertainment video content through our websites. In order to attract consumers and generate increased engagement on our website portals, we believe we must offer compelling content, products and services. If we are not able to attract and keep new users in a constantly evolving user base, we are likely to lose page views, and advertisers may reduce or cease publishing advertisements in our websites.  It is important for us to provide necessary content through our websites (e.g. live videos, new channel-based portals, etc.) to attract more users.  However, acquiring, developing and offering new content, products and services, as well as new functionality, features and enhanced performance of our existing content, products and services, may require significant costs and time to develop. In addition, consumer tastes are difficult to predict and subject to rapid change.

Cyber security threats could damage our reputation or result in liability to us.

Our businesses depend on the reliability and security of our information technology systems and infrastructure. They must remain secure and be perceived by our corporate and consumer customers to be secure, as we retain confidential customer information in our database. Despite the implementation of security measures, our infrastructure may be vulnerable to physical break-ins, computer hacking, computer viruses, other malware, ransomware or cyber-attacks beyond our control. If our security measures are circumvented, it would jeopardize the security of confidential information stored on our systems, proprietary information could be misappropriated or cause interruptions to our operations. We may be required to make significant additional investments and efforts to protect against or remedy security breaches. Unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential client and customer data, whether through breach of our computer systems, systems failure or otherwise, could damage our reputation and adversely affect our business and results of operations

Though we have not had any attempted cybersecurity breaches reported, the security services that we offer in connection with our business customers’ networks cannot assure complete protection from computer viruses, break-ins and other disruptive problems and the occurrence of these problems could result in claims against us or liability on our part. These claims, regardless of their ultimate outcome, could result in costly litigation and could damage our reputation and hinder our ability to attract and retain customers for our service offerings.

We face a competitive labour market for skilled personnel and therefore are highly dependent on our existing key personnel and on our ability to hire additional skilled employees.

Our success depends upon the continued service of our key personnel including our senior management team, including our CEO, Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Raju Vegesna. Each of our employees may voluntarily terminate his or her employment with us. Our success also depends on our ability to attract and retain such highly qualified technical, marketing and sales personnel. The labour market for skilled employees in India is extremely competitive, and the process of hiring employees with the necessary skills is time consuming and requires significant resources. We may not be able to retain or integrate existing personnel or identify and hire additional personnel in the future. The loss of the services of key personnel or the inability to attract additional qualified personnel could disrupt the implementation of our business strategy, upon which the success of our business depends.

The failure to keep our technical knowledge confidential could erode our competitive advantage.

Our technical know-how is not protected by intellectual property rights such as patents and is principally protected by maintaining its confidentiality. We rely on trade secrets, confidentiality agreements and other contractual arrangements. As a result, we cannot be certain that our know-how will remain confidential in the long run. Employment contracts with certain of our employees who have special technical knowledge about our products or our business contain a general obligation to keep all such knowledge confidential. In addition to the confidentiality provisions, these employment agreements typically contain non-competition clauses.

If either the confidentiality provisions or the non-competition clauses are unenforceable, we may not be able to maintain the confidentiality of our know-how. In the event that confidential technical information or know-how about our products or business becomes available to third parties or to the public, our competitive advantage over other companies in the wireless based IP/VPN industry could be harmed which could have an adverse material effect on our current business, future prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Our inter-city network is leased from other service providers and is dependent on their quality and availability.

We have provided inter-city connectivity for our Enterprise customers through lease arrangements rather than through capital investment in assets, our ability to offer high quality telecommunication services depends, to a large extent, on the quality of the networks maintained by other operators, and their continued availability, neither of which is under our control. However, the abundance of inter-city connectivity provides us with the ability of switching to Telco’s offering better services. Although we always use more than one service provider where required, there can be no assurance that this dependence on external parties would not affect our network availability. Any prolonged loss of network availability could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Our current infrastructure may not accommodate increased use while maintaining acceptable overall performance.

Currently, only a relatively limited number of customers use our corporate network. We must continue to add to our network infrastructure to accommodate additional users, increasing transaction volumes and changing customer requirements. We may not be able to project accurately the rate or timing of increases, if any, in the use of our websites or upgrade our systems and infrastructure to accommodate such increases. Our systems may not accommodate increased use while maintaining acceptable overall performance. Service lapses could cause our users to use the online services of our competitors, and numerous customer defections may adversely affect our results of operations.    

Our increasing work with Governmental agencies may expose us to additional risks.

We are increasingly bidding to work with Governments and Governmental agencies. Projects involving Governments or Governmental agencies carry various risks inherent in the Government contracting process, including the following:

Any of the above factors could have a material and adverse effect on our business or our results of operations .

Our dividend payment policy is contingent upon the Company’s profits each year.

Prior to 2013-14 we did not pay dividends due to the losses incurred in the previous years and non-availability of divisible profits under Indian law. In view of the consistent positive performance of the Company for the year 2018-19, the Board of Directors had recommended a 12% cash dividend to all the shareholders of the Company for the year ended March 31, 2019, which is subject to approval by the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting to be held on July 5, 2019.

Dividend payment is a function of profits, and the distribution of profits is based on home country laws and the financial statements prepared under the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) as specified in Section 133 of the Companies Act 2013 read together with rule 4 of the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules 2015 and rule 4 of Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Amendment Rules 2016 to the extent applicable, pronouncements of regulatory bodies applicable to the Company and other provisions of the Act.  The Board of Directors, after assessing various factors including the future cash flow requirements of the Company, recommends a dividend payout to the shareholders for approval at the Annual General Meeting.

The dividend payment policy of the Company is not certain and is contingent upon the level of performance of the Company and the recommendation of the Board of Directors and the approval of the shareholders. Thus, there is no assurance that dividends will be paid in the future.

Risks Related to Regulation and Compliance

We may encounter legal confrontations as the Information Technology Act 2000 lacks specificity as to issues on online processes and/or Internet.

We believe that the Information Technology Act of 2000, as amended in 2011 (the “ITA”), an Indian regulation, does not address all areas of online processes or the Internet. In exercise of the powers conferred by the ITA, the Government of India issued rules in April 2011 called Information Technology rules with stringent privacy norms for Internet Service Providers and the intermediary who is handling sensitive personal information. The ITA has mandated the service providers to maintain transactions, receipts and vouchers in specific formats. The records must be produced for inspection and audit by a government nominated agency or person. The Government of India is authorized to audit security and privacy protection measures. We are exposed to risks relating to unauthorized access and non-compliance of regulations by our business partners. Such events may negatively affect our reputation, and violations of the Information Act may result in fines and litigation or cause us to incur legal costs, which may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We may encounter legal confrontations under the Information Technology Act 2000 on our digital certification business.

We have been granted license as Certifying Authority (CAs) to issue digital signature certificate for electronic authentication of users. The CAs are governed by Controller of Certifying Authority (CCA) under the ITA which prescribes duties to be followed, standards to be maintained and a list of documents to be maintained by Certifying Authorities. The guidelines also require the company to bill the end customer to whom the Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) is sold effective from 1st of August 2017. System development changes have been made by the company to support the billing to the end customers. Any actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business. Non-Compliance with such laws, rules and regulations may result in fines and litigation or cause us to incur legal costs, which may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We may encounter litigation and penalties due to non-compliance with relevant laws applicable to the products sold and services rendered by us.

The products and services that we deal with are subject to various laws such as the ITA. We are exposed to risks relating to non-compliance with such laws which may affect our reputation and also result in litigations and penalties which may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We may not be able to comply with direct & indirect tax laws resulting in litigations and penalties.

Tightening of regulatory framework, new legislative changes and heightened enforcement activity by the tax departments across the world has brought the importance of tax risk on the radar of the corporates in India. From a business standpoint, income tax remains the most important tax for companies because of its impact on corporate bottom-line. Unpredictable rulings & interpretations of tax authorities are the key reasons leading to tax risks. In India, changes in taxation laws are announced on an annual basis in February, when the Union Budget is presented. These changes in law may affect the accuracy of our estimated tax obligations, or the obligations of holders of our equity shares and ADSs. Significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities. We are regularly under audit by tax authorities and those authorities may not agree with positions taken by us on our tax returns. Although we believe that our estimates are reasonable, there is no assurance that the final determination of tax audits or tax disputes will not be different from what is reflected in our historical income tax provisions and accruals. We are also exposed to risks of non-compliance with the requirement of law which may affect our reputation and also result in litigations and penalties which may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Any of the above could have a material adverse effect on our business and future results. Additionally, due to the complexity of the fiscal environment, the ultimate resolution of any tax matters may result in payments greater or lesser than amounts accrued.

The Government of India, through Finance Act, 2016, has introduced a tax on dividends accrued to non-corporate resident investors in excess of ₹1 million per annum at the rate of 10% (plus applicable surcharge and education cess). This is in addition to a dividend distribution tax payable by us at the rate of 20.555%. If the effective rate of dividend distribution tax increases or new forms of taxes on distribution of profits is introduced, the dividend amount receivable by our shareholders after taxes may decrease. If the Government of India modifies dividend distribution tax rates or introduces new forms of taxes on distribution of profits or changes the basis of application of these taxes, the same could materially affect the returns to our shareholders.

Government of India rolled out Goods and Service Tax (GST) effective from 1st July 2017. GST has subsumed several central, state and local tax laws such as excise duty, service tax, value added tax, central sales tax, entry tax, etc. The GST law prescribes compliance and procedures which are more comprehensive than prior tax laws. The GST Council has proposed a new process which allows credit to the company based on the invoices uploaded by the vendors in their tax returns. Hence, tax credits will be available to the company based on proper compliance by all the vendors and filing of returns on time. Any failure to comply with the requirement of law by the vendor may impact availment of input tax credit by the company. We are also exposed to risks of non-compliance with the requirement of law which may affect our reputation and also result in litigations and penalties which may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

The legal system in India does not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the legal system of the United States, and we may be unsuccessful in protecting our intellectual property rights.

Our intellectual property rights are important to our business. We rely on a combination of copyright and trademark laws, trade secrets, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property.

Our efforts to protect our intellectual property may not be adequate. We hold no patents, and our competitors may independently develop similar technology or duplicate our services. Unauthorized parties may infringe upon or misappropriate our services or proprietary information. In addition, the laws of India do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as laws in the United States, and the global nature of the Internet makes it difficult to control the ultimate destination of our services. For example, the legal processes to protect service marks in India are not as effective as those in place in the United States. The misappropriation or duplication of our intellectual property could disrupt our ongoing business, distract our management and employees, reduce our revenues and increase our expenses. In the future, litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights or to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. Any such litigation could be time-consuming and costly.

We could be subject to intellectual property infringement claims as the number of our competitors grows and the content and functionality of our websites or other service offerings overlap with competitive offerings. Our defenses against these claims, even if not meritorious, could be expensive and divert management’s attention from operating our Company. If we become liable to third parties for infringing their intellectual property rights, we could be required to pay a substantial award as damage and forced to develop non-infringing technology, obtain a license or cease selling the applications that contain the infringing technology. We may be unable to develop non-infringing technology or even obtain a license on commercially reasonable terms.

Compliance with new and changing corporate governance and public disclosure requirements adds uncertainty to our compliance policies and increases our costs of compliance.

Changing laws, regulations and standards relating to accounting, corporate governance and public disclosure, including the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) ,  Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”), new SEC regulations and NASDAQ Stock Market rules, are creating uncertainty for companies like ours. These new or changed laws, regulations and standards may lack specificity and are subject to varying interpretations. Their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs of compliance as a result of ongoing revisions to such governance standards.

Indian regulatory authorities are increasingly focused on standards of accounting, auditing, public disclosure and corporate governance and may impose new regulations that can lead to increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities.

In addition, it may become more expensive and/or more difficult for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance due to increases in premium rates. Further, our Board members, CEO, Chairman and Managing Director and our Chief Financial Officer could face an increased risk of personal liability in connection with their performance of duties and our SEC reporting obligations. As a result, we may face difficulties attracting and retaining qualified Board members and executive officers, which could harm our business. If we fail to comply with new or changed laws or regulations, our business and reputation may be harmed.

The Indian Companies Act, 2013, which replaced the Companies Act, 1956, effective April 1, 2014, has imposed numerous and onerous compliance requirements on the Corporates in India. The Act introduced significant provisions relating to governance, e-management, compliance and enforcement, enhanced disclosure norms, accountability of management, stricter enforcement, investor protection, class action suits, corporate social responsibility, compulsory appointment of Independent and Woman Directors, rotation of Auditors etc. among others. Compliance with the provisions of the new Act may pose a greater challenge to the Corporates in India both in terms of responsibility and cost.

We may inadvertently fail to comply with local laws of other countries in connection with the negotiation and execution of operational agreements.

As part of our international business, we may negotiate with and enter into contracts with strategic partners, clients, suppliers, employees and other third parties in various countries. We may inadvertently fail to comply with their laws, which may result in lawsuits or penalties and could adversely affect our business or results of operations.

We are subject to quality of service (QOS) guidelines issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (“TRAI”). Failure to comply with one or more applicable guidelines may expose us to fines/penalties.

TRAI has issued the following guidelines to the ISPs for improving the quality of service:

Fixing up a contention ratio may put standalone ISPs at a disadvantage as cost of delivery of Internet bandwidth may increase. Telecom companies offering similar internet services are tempted to offer significantly lower prices and incentives as they own the last mile. Also, by bundling telephony along with Internet, they can enhance their otherwise idle last mile. Under such circumstances, it will be very difficult for ISPs providing retail service to compete with big Telco’s which can offer broadband services by cross subsidizing with voice/other services.

In the event of our failure to comply with one or more of the above guidelines, we may expose ourselves to fines/penalties.

We may be liable to third parties for information retrieved from the Internet.

We could become liable if confidential information is disclosed inappropriately on or through our websites. Others could also sue us for the content and services that are accessible from our websites through links to other websites or through content and materials that may be posted by our users in chat rooms or bulletin boards. The laws in India relating to the liability of companies which provide Internet services, like ours, for activities of their users, are still relatively unclear. Investigating and defending these claims is expensive, even if they do not result in liability Allegations of impropriety, even if unfounded, could damage our reputation, disrupt our ongoing business, distract our management and employees, reduce our revenues and increase our expenses.

Risks Related to the ADSs and Our Trading Market

We may fail to meet the continued listing requirements of the NASDAQ, which could cause our ADS to be delisted.

Pursuant to the listing requirements of the NASDAQ, if a company’s share price is below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive trading days, NASDAQ will notify the company that it is no longer in compliance with the NASDAQ continued listing qualifications.  If a company is not in compliance with the minimum bid price rule, the company will have 180 calendar days to regain compliance. If the company does not regain the compliance within the initial 180 days, the company may be eligible for an additional 180-day period as set forth in NASDAQ listing rule 5810(c)(3)(A). The company may regain compliance if the bid price of its shares closes at $1.00 per share or more for a minimum of ten consecutive business days at any time during the cure period.

On December 27, 2016, the Company received notice from NASDAQ that the minimum bid price for our ADS was below $1.00 per ADS for a period of 30 consecutive business days, and that we therefore did not meet the minimum bid price requirement of the NASDAQ Listing Rule. Based on the Company’s application, on July 11, 2017, NASDAQ approved the transfer of the Company’s ADS to the NASDAQ Capital Market under the same symbol “SIFY” and granted additional 180 days calendar period to cure the minimum bid price deficiency.  

On September 28, 2017, the Company received a letter from NASDAQ stating that the closing bid price of the Company’s ADS had been $1 or greater for 10 consecutive trading days. Accordingly, the Company regained compliance with the Listing Rule 5550(a)(2).

Though the Company regained compliance with the NASDAQ continued listing requirements, we may not be able to meet the continued listing requirements of NASDAQ in the future. If we are unable to satisfy the NASDAQ criteria for maintaining our listing, our securities could be subject to delisting. As a consequence of any such delisting, our ADS holders would likely find it more difficult to dispose of or to obtain accurate quotations as to the prices of our securities, and there would likely be less liquidity in our stock. In the event of a delisting, we could face significant material adverse consequences including a limited availability of market quotations for our securities and a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.

The interests of our significant shareholder, Mr. Raju Vegesna, our CEO, Chairman and Managing Director may differ from your interests.

Effective as of October 30, 2010, upon the consummation of the private placement to an entity controlled by Mr. Raju Vegesna, our , CEO, Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company, Mr. Raju Vegesna beneficially owns approximately 85.99% of our outstanding equity shares. As a result, Mr. Raju Vegesna will be able to exercise control over many matters requiring approval by our Board of Directors and / or shareholders, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions, such as a sale of our company. Under Indian law, a simple majority is sufficient to control all shareholder action except for those items, which require approval by a special resolution. If a special resolution is required, the number of votes cast in favor of the resolution must not be less than three times the number of votes cast against it. Examples of actions that require a special resolution include:

Circumstances may arise in which the interests of Mr. Raju Vegesna could conflict with the interests of our other shareholders or holders of our ADSs. Mr. Vegesna, or the entities that he controls, could delay or prevent a change of control of our Company even if a transaction of that sort would be beneficial to our other shareholders, including the holders of our ADSs. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and as a result, we may take actions that our ADS holders do not view as beneficial. As a result, the market price of our ADS could be adversely affected.

An investor in our ADSs may not be able to exercise preemptive rights for additional shares and may thereby suffer dilution of such investor's equity interest in us.

Under the Companies Act, 2013, or the Indian Companies Act, a Company incorporated in India must offer its holders of equity shares pre-emptive rights to subscribe and pay for a proportionate number of shares to maintain their existing ownership percentages prior to the issuance of any new equity shares, unless such pre-emptive rights have been waived by three-fourths of the shares voting on the resolution to waive such rights.

Holders of ADSs may be unable to exercise pre-emptive rights for equity shares underlying ADSs unless a registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, is effective with respect to such rights or an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act is available. To the extent that holders of ADSs are unable to exercise pre-emptive rights granted in respect of the equity shares represented by their ADSs, their proportional interests in us would be reduced.

ADS holders may be restricted in their ability to exercise voting rights.

At our request, Citibank N.A, (the  “Depository”)  will mail to holders of our ADSs any notice of shareholders’ meeting received from us together with information explaining how to instruct the Depository to exercise the voting rights of the securities represented by ADSs. If the Depository receives voting instructions from a holder of our ADSs in time, relating to matters that have been forwarded to such holder, it will endeavor to vote the securities represented by such holder’s ADSs in accordance with such voting instructions. However, the ability of the Depository to carry out voting instructions may be limited by practical and legal limitations and the terms of the securities on deposit. We cannot assure you that the holders of our ADSs will receive voting materials in time to enable such holders to return voting instructions to the Depository. Securities for which no voting instructions have been received will not be eligible to vote.

Under Indian law, subject to the presence in person at a shareholder meeting of persons holding equity shares representing a quorum, all resolutions proposed to be approved at that meeting are voted on by a show of hands unless shareholders present in person and holding (a) not less than one-tenth of the total voting power entitled to vote on a resolution or (b) shares with an aggregate paid up capital of at least ₹ 500,000 demand that a poll be taken. Equity shares not represented in person at the meeting, including equity shares underlying ADSs for which a holder has provided voting instructions to the Depository, are not counted in a vote by show of hands. As a result, only in the event that a shareholder present at the meeting demands that a poll be taken will the votes of ADS holders be counted. Securities for which no voting instructions have been received will not be voted on a poll. Accordingly, you may not be able to participate in all offerings, transactions or votes that are made available to holders of our equity shares.

As a foreign private issuer, we are not subject to the SEC’s proxy rules, which regulate the form and content of solicitations by United States-based issuers of proxies from their shareholders. To date, our practice has been to provide advance notice to our ADS holders of all shareholder meetings and to solicit their vote on such matters through the Depository, and we expect to continue this practice. The form of notice and proxy statement that we have been using does not include all of the information that would be provided under the SEC’s proxy rules.

The market price of our ADSs has been and may continue to be highly volatile. Many factors could cause the market price of our ADSs to rise and fall. Some of these factors include:

The financial markets in the United States and other countries have experienced significant price and volume fluctuations, and the market prices of technology companies, particularly Internet-related companies, have been and continue to be extremely volatile with negative sentiment prevailing. Volatility in the price of our ADSs may be caused by factors outside of our control and may be unrelated or disproportionate to our operating results, which may adversely affect the value of your investment and the price of our ADSs.

An active or liquid market for the ADSs is not assured.

We cannot predict that an active, liquid public trading market for our ADSs will continue to exist. Although ADS holders are entitled to withdraw the equity shares underlying the ADSs from the Depository at any time, there is no public market for our equity shares in India or the United States.  The loss of liquidity could increase the price volatility of our ADSs.

The future sales of securities by us or existing shareholders may reduce the price of our ADSs.

Any significant sales of our equity shares or ADSs or a perception that such sales may occur might reduce the price of our ADSs and make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate. We may issue additional equity shares to raise capital and to fund acquisitions and investments, and the parties to any such future transactions could also decide to sell them.

Capital and credit market conditions may adversely affect our access to capital, the cost of capital, and ability to execute our business plan.

Access to capital markets is critical to our ability to operate. We may require additional financing in the future for the development of our business. Declines and uncertainties in the global capital markets over the years have severely restricted raising new capital and have affected companies’ ability to continue to expand or fund new projects. If these economic conditions continue or become worse, our future cost of equity or debt capital and access to the capital markets could be adversely affected.  Our ability to obtain future financing will depend on, among other things, our financial condition and results of operations as well as the condition of the capital markets or other credit markets at the time we seek financing. In addition, an inability to access the capital markets on favorable terms due to our low stock price, or upon our delisting from the NASDAQ Capital Market if we fail to satisfy a listing requirement, could affect our ability to execute our business plan as scheduled.

We can give no assurance as to the availability of such additional capital or, if available, whether it would be on terms acceptable to us. In addition, we may continue to seek capital through the public or private sale of securities, if market conditions are favorable for doing so. If we are successful in raising additional funds through the issuance of equity securities, stockholders will likely experience substantial dilution. If we are unable to enter into the necessary financing arrangements or sufficient funds are not available on acceptable terms when required, either due to market fluctuations or regulations imposed by the Indian Governmental authorities, we may not have sufficient liquidity and our business may be adversely affected.

We may be required to list our Equity Shares on an Indian stock exchange. If we were to list our Equity Shares on an Indian stock exchange, conditions in the Indian securities market may require compliance with new and changing regulations framed by Securities Exchange Board of India, listing requirements of stock exchange, corporate governance, accounting and public disclosure requirements which might add uncertainty to our compliance policies and increases our costs of compliance.

In 2006, The Ministry of Finance (MoF), issued a press release by which Indian companies cannot raise new capital abroad unless, the securities of the company are listed on a stock exchange in India. However, by virtue of notification issued by the MoF on October 21, 2014, the issuance of depository receipts has been taken out of the 1993 Scheme and is now regulated by the Depository Receipts Scheme, 2014. The 2014 Scheme allows Indian companies, whether listed or unlisted, to access the international capital markets using depository receipts. Such issuances can either be through a public offering of depository receipts or through a preferential allotment or qualified institutional placement. They can also either be sponsored by the issuer company or unsponsored (such as when an existing shareholder sells its holding through the issue of depository receipts). These issuances are subject to the usual foreign investment regime, including in relation to sectoral caps as well as pricing.  Moreover, such issuances are permitted only to investors in certain specific jurisdictions as listed in the 2014 Scheme, which currently consists of a list of 34 countries. The earlier condition of mandatory listing in India is dispensed with.

However, in the future we may be required by the Government of India to list on the Indian stock exchange. We may not be able to comply with any timeline for listing and other standards imposed on us, and we are uncertain as to the consequences to us of any non-compliance. If we were to list our equity shares on an Indian stock exchange, we would have to comply with changing laws, regulations and standards relating to accounting, corporate governance and public disclosure, including the SEBI rules and regulations and stock exchange listing requirements which may create uncertainty for companies like ours. These new or changed laws, regulations and standards may lack specificity and are subject to varying interpretations. Their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs of compliance as a result of ongoing revisions to such governance standards.

Risks Related to Investments in Indian Companies

We are incorporated in India, and a significant majority of our assets and employees are located in India. Consequently, our financial performance and the market price of our ADSs will be affected by changes in exchange rates, interest rates, Government of India policies, including taxation policies, as well as political, social and economic developments affecting India.

Changes in the policies of the Government of India could delay the further liberalization of the Indian economy and adversely affect economic conditions in India generally, which could impact our business and prospects.

Since 1991, successive Indian Governments have pursued policies of economic liberalization, including significantly relaxing restrictions on the private sector. Nevertheless, the role of the Central and State Governments in the Indian economy as producers, consumers and regulators has remained significant. The rate of economic liberalization could change, and specific laws and policies affecting technology and telecom companies, foreign investment, exchange rate regime and other matters affecting investment in our securities could change as well. A significant change in India's economic liberalization and deregulation policies could adversely affect business and economic conditions in India generally, and our business in particular.

Regional conflicts in South Asia could adversely affect the Indian economy, disrupt our operations and cause our business to suffer.

South Asia has, from time to time, experienced instances of civil unrest and hostilities among neighboring countries, including between India and Pakistan. Military activity or terrorist attacks in the future could influence the Indian economy by disrupting communications and making travel more difficult and such political tensions could create a greater perception that investments in Indian companies involve higher degrees of risk. This, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on the market for securities of Indian companies, including our equity shares and our ADSs, and the market for our services.

Terrorist attacks or a war could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Terrorist attacks, such as the attacks of February 14, 2019 in Jammu Srinagar highway (Pulwama attack), the attacks of July 25, 2008 in Bangalore, the attacks of November 26 to 29, 2008 in Mumbai, the attack at New Delhi High Court on September 7, 2011 and other acts of violence have the potential to affect us or our clients. In addition, such attacks may destabilize the economic and political situation in India. Furthermore, such attacks could cause a disruption in the delivery of our services to our clients, and could have a negative impact on our business, personnel, assets and results of operations, and could cause our clients or potential clients to choose other vendors for the services we provide. Terrorist threats, attacks or war could make travel more difficult, may disrupt our ability to provide services to our clients and could delay, postpone or cancel our clients' decisions to use our services.

The markets in which we operate are subject to the risk of earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters.

Some of the regions that we operate in, are prone to earthquakes, flooding and other natural disasters. In the event that any of our business centers are affected by any such disasters, we may sustain damage to our operations and properties, suffer significant financial losses and be unable to complete our client engagements in a timely manner, if at all. Further, in the event of a natural disaster, we may also incur costs in redeploying personnel and property. In addition, if there is a major earthquake, flood or other natural disaster in any of the locations in which a significant number of our customers are located, we face the risk that our customers may incur losses, or sustained business interruption and/or loss which may materially impair their ability to continue their purchase of products or services from us. A major earthquake, flood or other natural disaster in the markets in which we operate could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We are subject to foreign investment restrictions under Indian law that limit our ability to attract foreign investors which, together with the lack of a public market for our equity shares, may adversely impact the value of our ADSs.

Currently, there is no public trading market for our equity shares in India or elsewhere nor can we assure you that we will take steps to develop one. Our equity securities are only traded on NASDAQ through the ADSs. Under prior Indian laws and regulations, our Depository could not accept deposits of outstanding equity shares and issue ADRs evidencing ADSs representing such equity shares without prior approval of the Government of India. The Reserve Bank of India has announced fungibility regulations permitting, under limited circumstances, the conversion of ADSs to equity shares and the reconversion of equity shares to ADSs provided that the actual number of ADSs outstanding after such reconversion is not greater than the original number of ADSs outstanding. If you elect to surrender your ADSs and receive equity shares, you will not be able to trade those equity shares on any securities market and under present law, likely will not be permitted to reconvert those equity shares to ADSs.

 If in the future a market for our equity shares is established in India or another market outside of the United States, those shares may trade at a discount or premium to the ADSs. Under current Indian regulations and practice, the approval of the Reserve Bank of India is not required for the sale of equity shares underlying ADSs by a non-resident Indian to a resident India as well as for renunciation of rights to a resident of India, unless the sale of equity shares underlying the ADSs is through a recognized stock exchange or in connection with the offer made under the regulations regarding takeovers. Since exchange controls still exist in India, the Reserve Bank of India will approve the price at which the equity shares are transferred based on a specified formula, and a higher price per share may not be permitted. Holders who seek to convert the rupee proceeds from a sale of equity shares in India into foreign currency and repatriate that foreign currency from India will have to obtain Reserve Bank of India approval for each transaction. We cannot assure you that any required approval from the Reserve Bank of India or any other government agency can be obtained.

The Government of India may change its regulation of our business or the terms of our license to provide Internet access services, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and VPN services without our consent, and any such change could decrease our revenues and/or increase our costs, which would adversely affect our operating results.

Our business is highly regulated as per extant telecom policy of the Government of India (the “GOI”). Our ISP license issued in the year 1998 was valid for a term of 15 years. We have been issued new licenses under the Unified License dated June 2, 2014 with a validity of 20 years. If we are unable to renew the licenses for any reason, we will not be able to carry on the said business beyond license term, which may adversely affect our business or results of operations

The GOI has right to revoke, terminate or suspend or take over entire operations for reasons such as national security or similar reasons without compensation to us. In view of increasing cyber threats and attacks, the GOI may require telecom licensees (including ISPs) at their costs to provide monitoring facility across its network, and facilities for capture and retention of data in terms of traffic flow, usage details, etc. This would result in significant increase in costs and possible lesser usage due to perceived invasion of privacy by customers.

Certain government departments have been making queries whether use of Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP, terminal to make calls to phones abroad is permissible within ISP license. We believe that such overseas phone calls are permitted, since, SIP terminal is a “computer” as defined in Information Technology Act, 2000. We may have to make a significant investment as capital outlay in SIP terminals to make it a PC-equivalent, if the government authorities issue regulations governing SIP usage contrary to our beliefs, which would have a material effect on our results of operations.

Our profits may be impacted due to the increase in license fee on the NLD/ILD license and inclusion of pure Internet service and non-licensed activities under such license fee by the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India.

Effective July 2012, the Government of India amended the NLD/ILD/ISP license agreements with respect to Annual License Fee.

Under such amendment, all services under the NLD/ILD license have been subjected to an increased license fee from the existing 6% to 7% from July 2012 to March 2013 and 8% from April 2013 onwards. In addition, the Government has also amended the ISP license and brought the same under such license fee of 7% from July 2012 till March 2013 and 8% from April 2013 onwards. Our present license for Unified License ISP issued on June 2, 2014 provides for payment of License fee on pure Internet services also. The Company had approached Honourable High Court of Madras (Court) by filing a writ petition prohibiting Department of Telecommunications (DOT) from levying license fee on non-licensed activities.

Such amendments to the license agreements will significantly impact the profitability of the Company by way of additional expense due to increased license fees.

Increase in license fees paid for the licensed spectrum to Department of Telecommunications (‘DoT’) may adversely affect our cost and in turn our cash flow and profitability

DoT may increase significantly the license fees to be paid for using the licensed spectrum. This will adversely affect our profitability. We cannot assure you that there would not be any increases of license fees in the future.

In the event that the Government of India or the Government of another country changes its tax policies in a manner that is adverse to us, our tax expense may materially increase, reducing our profitability.

The statutory corporate income tax rate in India was 30% during fiscal year 2019 and was subject to a 12% surcharge where the taxable total income exceeds ₹ 10 crore (7% where the taxable total income is less than ₹ 10 crores but greater than ₹ 1 crore), 4% health and education cess resulting in an effective tax rate of 34.94%.

We cannot assure you that the surcharge will be in effect for a limited period of time or that additional surcharges will not be implemented by the Government of India. We may be subject to tax claims by the Government of India against us in the future. Defending these claims would be expensive, time consuming and may divert our management's attention and resources from our operations.

Goods and Services Tax has replaced the majority of the existing indirect tax regulations in India. The point of taxation has been changed and also rates for our services were increased from 15% to 18%. Consequently, the incremental costs will impact the profitability and cash flow of the company. There may be future increases in tax rate that will impact our profitability and cash flows adversely.