The Hindu Business Line : Premji's son Rishad to join Wipro as business manager in July

Putting years of speculation to rest, Wipro Ltd said on Monday that Mr Rishad Premji, the eldest son of Chairman Mr Azim Premji, would join the company in July after the annual general meeting.

Mr Rishad Premji would join as a business manager in the fairly new practice that has been set up under the banking and financial solutions unit of Wipro Technologies, said Mr Pratik Kumar, Executive Vice-President, Human Resources, Wipro.

Mr Rishad will report to Mr Somitro Ghosh, Senior Vice-President, who in turn reports to Mr Girish Paranjpe, President, Finance Solutions, Wipro Technologies.

Mr Rishad's joining has been approved by Wipro's board of directors in April and is subject to shareholders' approval at the forthcoming annual general meeting. "This is required statutorily because he is a relative of a director," Mr Kumar said.

Thirty-year-old Mr Rishad, an MBA from Harvard Business School, had worked briefly with a few companies including General Electric (GE) in the US and Bain Consulting in the UK.

As of March 31, 2007, he held 6,18,000 shares of Wipro, amounting to about 0.04 per cent of the company's equity. Mr Premji's younger son, Mr Tariq Premji, is working with Azim Premji Investments.

Employee status

Mr Kumar clarified that Mr Rishad would be joining Wipro as an employee. "We have benchmarked him alongside other professionals in the organisation. His coming in is like any other employee of the organisation and no other benefits or treatment is envisaged for him," he said.

"However, given the shareholding pattern, it is possible that he would be on the board of Wipro one day," Mr Kumar said.

The latest announcement assumes significance as it is seen as a signal of an eventual succession at Wipro Ltd, in which Mr Premji owns 80 per cent stake.

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