 "Abid Ali Neemuchwala")
Wipro Ltd, India's third largest information technology services firm, is likely to elevate its group president and chief operating officer (COO) Abid Ali Neemuchwala as CEO early next year.
According to sources, current CEO T K Kurien, whose terms ends in January, is likely to be made vice-chairman, a position which has been lying vacant since 2005 when Vivek Paul left the Bengaluru-based company. An announcement would be made early next year, the sources added.
Neemuchwala, former head of business process outsourcing at Tata Consultancy Services, joined Wipro as COO in March this year and was considered as a contender for the top post.
In a statement, Wipro said no decision has been taken. "Any such decision will be taken by the Board of Directors based on the recommendation of the Nominations Committee and will be communicated to the stock exchanges. We don't want to comment any further on this speculation," the statement added.
After Wipro appointed Neemuchwala as COO and group president, the company has gone through a series of restructuring to bring better control over its performance. This has also led to few senior-level exits, including that of Ayan Mukerji, a company veteran who was heading the media and telecom business, and Sangita Singh, head of healthcare business. None of these people could be reached for comments.
