Wipro effects top-level management rejig

Changes happen as Anand Sankaran quits from the company

Both Infosys and Wipro, two of India’s leading providers of IT services, seem to be effecting management changes. While the re-entry of N R N Murthy has led to some high-profile exits at Infosys, Wipro has again announced a major management rejig.

The company had last initiated a major reshuffle in 2011 as CEO T K Kurien took over its reins. The latest management changes (see chart) come with the news that Anand Sankaran, senior vice-president for Global Infrastructure Services and Wipro Infotech, has quit.

In an internal email to employees, Kurien said the recent changes would help the company better address opportunities in the market. “Earlier in Q2, our leadership team spent considerable time reviewing market opportunities, and sharply defining the  focus areas that would fuel our growth ambition. In  order  to  better  address these opportunities we are making these organisational changes,” he said.

Analysts say this could be the last leg of Wipro’s restructuring. “This kind of plan cannot be drawn out overnight, so it is a possibility that Anand was given a portfolio under this rejig that he did not approve of and decided to move out.

Anyway, Wipro had to give people like Shaji Farooq larger portfolios than what they had. So it seems part of a well thought out strategy,” a senior analyst with a domestic brokerage said.

 

Equity analysts and advisory firms maintained that sudden management changes were not good for business. “Wipro’s strategy is still work in progress. There is a gap between what Wipro wants and what customers are seeking from it. Any amount of management changes will not address a faulty strategy,” said Sudin Apte, research director and CEO, Offshore Insights.

“All the guys that Wipro has named in the restructuring are fairly senior people, and the company’s plan seems well thought about. However, one gets a sense that this may be a forced restructuring, as the aftermath of Anand’s exit,” a Mumbai-based analyst with a foreign brokerage said.

Equity analysts are hoping that since these leaders are well-known the changes will not impact the stock price any further. "Most of the guys that have been named in the restructuring are known to the investors and are credible individuals. So from the market perspective, there could be a slight negative movement because of the uncertainty that an organisational rejig entails for the near future. But if you look at the overall picture, we don't believe this announcement will have much bearing on the stock,” said another analyst.

Kurien's crack team:

Name	Designation now	Designation before
Soumitro Ghosh	Head, Wipro Infotech, India and Middle East  Business	Global Head BFSI
Shaji Farooq	Global Head  - BFSI	Heading Advanced Technologies & go-to-market transformation
GK Prasanna	SVP & Global Head for GIS and SVP & Global Head for Product Engineering Solutions	SVP & Global Head for Product Engineering Solutions
Jeff Henan-Jalil	VP & Global Head, Advanced Technologies	Head of sales for manufacturing in Europe, chief sales & operations head for Europe
Bhanumurthy BM	Chief Business Operations and Head of Global Alliances, Wipro	Chief Business Operations Officer of IT Business