Wipro rejigs senior executives to spur growth

Global software major Wipro Ltd Thursday shuffled its senior executives to capitalise on the growth momentum picking up in the US and European economies.

As part of the rejig, senior vice-president Shaji Farooq has been appointed as global head of its banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) strategic business unit in place of Soumitro Ghosh, who will head Wipro Infotech, which looks after the India and Middle East business.

"With the growth momentum picking up in the US and European economies, the financial services industry presents significant opportunities. Farooq's long experience with the BFSI sector stands him in good stead to shape our strategy for this vertical and help seize emerging opportunities," the company said in a statement here.

Prior to his new posting, Farooq was heading the company's advanced technologies service line and go-to-market transformation initiatives and will be continue to be based in New York.

"Ghosh played a significant role in building the BFSI vertical and making it the largest business unit. He will now power the company's India and Middle East business to maintain its leadership in these markets from Bangalore," the statement said.

Similarly, product engineering solutions global head G.K. Prasanna has been given additional charge of senior vice-president of the global infrastructure services business unit.

"Prasanna, who has been with the company for over 25 years, launched many innovative service delivery models as head of the infrastructure services business from 2000 to 2009," the statement said.

Head of sales for manufacturing in Europe Jeffery (Jeff) Heenan Jalil has been appointed vice-president and global head of advanced technologies, a post Shaji held before the rejig. Jalil was also chief sales and operations head for Europe and vice-president for telecom equipment and media verticals.

The appointments will come into effect from Jan 1, 2014.

"Our strategy of driving customer engagement and growth has been paying dividends. To sustain the momentum, our leadership team has reviewed market opportunities and defined the focus areas to fuel further growth," Wipro chief executive T.K. Kurien said in the statement.

Farooq, Ghosh, Prasanna and Jalil will report to Kurien.

In a related development, senior vice-president for global infrastructure services and Wipro Infotech Anand Sankaran has decided to resign and pursue a career outside the company.