Ever since he entered his father’s business empire as an employee about four and a half years ago, Rishad Premji, elder son of Wipro’s legendary chairman, Azim Hasham Premji, had been elusive to the media. When he finally surfaced, though, he talked threadbare to Bibhu Ranjan Mishra about the business, its direction and the relationship he has with his billionaire father, who holds about 80 per cent in the enterprise. Edited excerpts:
Why has Wipro’s chief strategy officer been elusive for so long?
I have been in this job for a year. I guess they (the company) were just giving a chance to get settled in this job. Finally, it is the right time to meet media. I am almost settled in this role and have something to talk from the strategy perspective. So, it makes sense to talk now, in the capacity of my role, not in the capacity of my relationship (with Azim Premji), which is what people were earlier interested in.
There are reports saying you don’t like to be called Mr Premji.
It’s not that I don’t like it. In fact, nobody calls me Mr Premji. People usually call me by my first name. I worked in the Western culture for quite some time, where everybody refers to everybody else by the first name, and that’s the culture of Wipro as well.
You studied at Harvard Business School and worked in global companies like GE Capital and Bain & Co. What really made you come back and work in Wipro? Why not some other company?
I worked for two other large global organisations. I reached a personal stage in my life when I felt the need to come back to India. I was then about 30. I did not want to be biased against Wipro because of my connection with the company. I thought, why should I restrict myself from working with Wipro, which provided a great option? Besides, I had a great opportunity to work on a very exciting initiative, a new mortgage initiative they were looking to kick-off as a part of the banking and financial services vertical. I considered that an opportunity.
Did your father influence you to take that decision?
It was a personal decision. I came to Wipro like any other employee. I was interviewed by Girish (Paranjpe) at that time, when he was in London. The way I approached it is like the way everyone approaches any new job. You evaluate the job; you evaluate the pros and cons of the job and then decide to join a company, with an objective to make an impact. It was important to me because I got accepted for what I brought to the table. I got a chance to settle in Bangalore for the first time, as I studied in Mumbai before moving abroad for higher studies.
Have you never felt some kind of pressure which comes from the fact that you are son of a great visionary and business leader?
I never thought about that. This is the pressure you put on yourself. I never let it affect the way I engage in a day to day basis, though I was cognizant of the fact of my relationship with the chairman. I have always tried to give my best shot at work and got reviewed like everybody else.
When you joined Wipro, there was talk that it might be a move to make you CEO of the IT business at some time. Does it not distract you?
Not at all. I am very focused on what I am doing today. I have been in this job for 12 months. I think this is a great time to add value in my capacity as part of the leadership team of Wipro’s IT business. I don’t want to be distracted and think out of that.
Did you not look at any company other than Wipro when you moved to India?
I had only Wipro in mind. As I said, I should not be biased against Wipro just because I am associated through a family connection. So, I did not look at lots of different options.
What is the biggest lesson you have learnt from you father?
Probably, discipline and hard work. There is just no substitute for hard work. I think the smartest people in life don’t get ahead, but the hardest working people. That discipline and the work ethic would be the most important things I have learnt from him.
Does he spare you when you make a mistake at work?
I don’t work for him. I work for the CEO of the IT (information technology) business, T K Kurien. So, I don’t have to interact with him (Azim, I don’t engage with him in a formal capacity in that sense. I interact with him in broader meetings with my bosses.
Which part of your professional life was more enjoyable for you?
My background is financial services and consulting. I was on a management programmme at GE called the financial management programme. It gave a great opportunity to see different businesses and learn different aspects of finance. My stint at Bain & Co was a great training ground. If you see their discipline, the way you approach problem solving and thinking, this really helps sharpen critical thinking.
A lot of management and structural changes happened at Wipro after you joined. Do you think the timing was good?
The changes were driven by the board of the company. We made some fundamental structural changes, which I think made a lot of sense. The major change is moving away from being a three-axis organisation to a single-axis one. Now, the entire focus is on verticals, instead of the earlier vertical, service lines and geographies. This has helped us become closer to customers and able to make decisions with agility and speed. So, in that way, the pulse of the organisation moved to the customer. So, structurally, those were the right changes.
Why did the company decide to end the joint CEO model?
I have no comment on that. I think the model worked very well. The model was again designed by the board and the chairman. And, the mode for speed and agility requires a one-CEO model and that was the decision the chairman and the board took.
What is the best thing you learnt from your early association with the BFSI (banking, financial services, insurance) business at Wipro?
The greatest challenge was to start a business from a white sheet of paper. That is because the mandate was to find opportunities in the mortgage space and go for it. We did a lot of diligence, interacted with internal and external stakeholders, spoke to potential customers, people in the industry. That led to a small acquisition in the mortgage space. It was really nice to see something which started from a white sheet of paper and got fructified into real business in the ground.
Wipro’s IT business is under tremendous pressure. The closest competitor has moved up in the pecking order. What is your strategy to get back the earlier place?
We play the race for the long term, not for a year or two or five. When you are running a race, it is very important to be looking to the front; not necessarily, continuously, be looking behind. Run your race at your speed if you are running a marathon, and that’s most important to us. We are focusing on what we think is relevant in terms of driving that agenda. To look at the competition is certainly important, in the sense that it is a good benckmark for performance and do a reality check.
How long till the strategy starts playing out?
Starting from the last quarter, some of the impact of that change is starting to play out. We had a strong volume growth; we are seeing some of the early seeds of that momentum. Is there more work to be done? Certainly. But, I think the direction we are heading is the right one. The direction of investing more and creating a differentiation in the front and creating much more automation and standardisation at the back-end for the delivery work. We believe we are headed in the right direction.
The macroeconomic environment continues to be challenging. Will your strategy bring in the desired results.
So far, the macro environment has not played out at the grassroot level. We are closely connected with customers. But, we are not seeing any implication of this playing out to our business. Generally, organisations and corporations are much stronger today than they were three years before. They are more profitable; their balance sheets are much cleaner and they have much more cash in their books. So, the challenge at the sovereign level is not necessarily playing out at a corporation level.
Does the fact that you don’t have a banking product of your own slow down the growth of your BFSI vertical?
That is where we are. We are not trying to become a product company or developing a product from scratch. We are unlikely to go and buy a big product company. It’s because we are agnostic to products; we bring the best of the breed solutions to our customers. For that, we even bring products from our competitors.
Wipro’s employees seem to have become de-motivated after the restructuring which resulted in high attrition in the recent past. What’s the strategy to stem it?
People are our main asset and ensuring they remain satisfied is a major area of focus. Our objective is to provide the right platform for career progression, growth opportunities, perks and promotions. Continuous communications with employees is critical. But if you look at attrition, particularly in the last quarter, it has fallen significantly. I think during this quarter, it will fall further.
Many people from within say Wipro has a government-like structure, with less scope for youngsters to grow. Is this true?
I disagree. For a company as large and complex as ours, we are as meritocratic as one could be. We have young, dynamic leaders in important and respectable positions.
A high unemployment rate in major markets is forcing companies is giving rise to anti-outsourcing voices, forcing people to create jobs locally. What is your strategy on this?
I think you have to be sensitive to that. One way to address that concern is to become local where you are present. We are looking to localise much of the work and hire people locally. Today, a third of our people outside India are locals. We are going to drive that to at least 50 per cent within 12-18 months.
With contribution from Pradeesh Chandran