Premji's son, Rishad, moves up another level at Wipro

Rishad Premji, elder son of Wipro chairman Azim Premji, has moved up one more level in the company. He is understood to have been promoted as a vice president (VP) ,while he would continue in his present role as chief strategy officer.

An MBA from Harvard Business School, with work experience in Bain Consulting and GE, he joined Wipro in July 2007 as a business manager in the banking and finance division. In July 2009, the company elevated him as a general manager in charge of investor relations.

On being asked, a Wipro spokesperson said, “The company does not want to comment”.

Since Rishad joined Wipro, it has been widely speculated that this could be part of his father’s succession plan. However, Premji has also repeatedly said the top positions would be always decided on merit, like any other professionally managed company.

Premji holds close to 80 per cent in Wipro, which also has an interest in consumer care and infrastructure engineering.

Other than Rishad, the company is also understood to have given promotions to many other senior employees. The general managers who have been promoted as VPs include Sunita Cherian, Supriti Bhandary, Priti Rajora (all from the human resources division) and Ashok Tripathy, who heads the personal computer business. Durga Prasad, head of Wipro’s Saudi Arabia business, has also been made a vice-president.

Wipro said the company did not want to comment on internal promotions. It has given salary rises to its offshore employees of 12-15 per cent, effective from this month. Onshore employees are yet to get their pay rise letters,