Wipro hires ex-TCS top executive Abid Neemuchwala as Group President, COO

Promotes 2 insiders as presidents; changes seen as succession planning

Wipro, India’s third largest information technology services company, on Monday announced the appointment of a chief operating officer and said it was promoting two internal candidates as presidents.

The Bengaluru-based company named Abid Ali Neemuchwala, former business process outsourcing head at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), as its group president and chief operating officer (COO), a position lying vacant since A L Rao was made an advisor to the company after he retired in September 2009.

Wipro also promoted two veterans, G K Prasanna, chief executive of global infrastructure services, and Bhanumurthy B M, chief executive of application services and strategic alliances services, as presidents. The heads of all services, except Ayan Mukerji, chief executive of the media & telecom and product engineering services business, will report to Neemuchwala.

Neemuchwala, whose appointment will take effect from April 1, will be responsible for Europe, Africa and Latin America, apart from heading functions like strategic engagement, advisor relationship and marketing.

“Abid brings invaluable experience of building and scaling businesses. His deep understanding of technology will help power our businesses to greater heights,” said T K Kurien, chief executive officer of Wipro.

Wipro has experimented with several models, including one with joint chief executives that did not work well and the company had to disband it. Industry experts said the chief executive-chief operating officer structure worked best for the information technology business. Besides, it is also seen as a precursor to succession planning.

“At Wipro, it is [Azim] Premji who calls the shots,” said Kris Lakshmikanth, chairman and managing director of Headhunters India, an executive search firm. “However, the development could be part of larger succession planning likely to happen in the next one year when Kurien’s contract comes to an end. But that does not mean Neemuchwala will be naturally entitled,” he added.

Less burden for CEO
Kurien, who took over as chief executive in January 2011, had all the heads of strategic business units, services, business divisions as well as heads of the legal, strategy and finance departments reporting to him. In the new structure, he will have fewer people reporting to him and, thus, more time for business expansion.