WIPRO MAY FILL PAUL'S CHAIR

Thimmaya & Mitu Jayashankar, Bangalore, April 15, 2008
The Economic Times

Is Wipro, India’s third-largest IT services company, planning a top-level management rejig? For the past few days, Bangalore’s IT circles have been abuzz with the news that Wipro chairman and MD Azim H Premji has chosen a new vice-chairman, a position that’s been lying vacant ever since Vivek Paul quit the company in 2005. Sources within the company and outside said that Suresh Vaswani, president, global IT service lines, Wipro Technologies and Wipro Infotech, may be among those being considered for this position in the $4-billion soaps-to-software behemoth.
Wipro said it would not comment on market speculation. Unofficially, several in the top rung denied any such move, but speculation in the industry continues. Close associates of Vaswani said the story has been doing the rounds inside the company for two weeks and added: “All kinds of permutations and combinations are being discussed.” According to another stream of speculation, Premji might decide on having two vice-chairmen in order to accommodate senior members in the top management.

After Paul’s exit, Wipro did not appoint another vice-chairman. Instead, the company created a structure where several strategic business units with independent heads reported directly to Premji. This helped the company grow its revenues from $2 billion to $4 billion. Wipro also appointed AL Rao as the chief operating officer in 2005.

Rao, who turns 60 this year, is expected to retire soon. Wipro Technologies, which contributes 74 percent to the company’s revenue, has five business heads — Suresh Vaswani (47), Girish Paranjpe (49, president, finance solutions), Sudip Banerjee (47, president, enterprise solutions), PR Chandrasekar (president, Americas and Europe) and Sudip Nandy (49, CEO, telecom and product engineering solutions). Some of these executives have been with Wipro for at least two decades.

Given the fact that Wipro’s growth has continued apace, a rejig of the top management appears out of place, according to analysts. Unless, of course, the dynamics of the business changes in the face of slowdown in the US economy that is expected to affect the Indian IT growth story. In the past, there has been a lot of discussion on who will succeed the 61-year-old Premji, who owns 79.5 percent of Wipro. Recently, when Rishad Premji, the chairman’s older son was inducted into the company, the media had anointed him as heir apparent.

Wipro had gone to great lengths to clarify that Rishad, who works with Paranjpe, would not take over from Premji any time soon. “Rishad is not Premji’s successor or his successor's successor. You will know this when Wipro announces its succession plan,” a senior Wipro official had said last year. Top executives within Wipro have often stated that the company very clearly wants to distinguish between ownership and professional management. The company will announce its results for the quarter on April 18, 2008.