Its normal code to parse .xls

$excelRowCounter=0;
my $parser = Spreadsheet::ParseExcel->new(
                                      CellHandler => \&excelCellhandle
+r,
                                      NotSetCell  => 1,
                                      Parameters => "XXXXXXXXX"
                            );

$parser->parse($currentFile);

sub excelCellhandler
{
    # my $workbook    = $_[0];
    # my $sheet_index = $_[1];
    my $row         = $_[2];
    # my $col         = $_[3];
    my $cell        = $_[4];
    my $q;
    

    if($excelRowCounter == $row)
    {
    $q = $cell->unformatted();
    $text .= $v;     
        
    }
    else
    {
    if(length($text) > 2097152)
    {
    do something          
    
    return 
    }
    $excelRowCounter = $row;
    
    $q = $cell->unformatted();
     $text .= $v;      
        
    }
}
[download]

If you are not happy with a CPAN module you will have to essentially re-write it ( or at least parts of it )

You can get the code from CPAN or GitHub, find the chunks that you are using ( which might be a pain considering the number of sub-modules it has ) and then try to optimize it.

Also that module does not look like it has been maintained in over two years, but you could try to get in touch with the maintainers.

If you do manage to speed it up / improve it, you might want to submit a patch.

Or you could just try and get the same data in CSV - is that possible?

CSV is not an option. The module has so many dependecies that speeding it up or identifying functions which i dont require is very difficult