After Infosys, Wipro has announced a reshuffle in its top management.
Anand Sankaran, who has been with the company since 1989 and headed the India and Middle East business of Wipro and its Global Infrastructure Services business, has quit India’s third largest software exporter.
Ghosh to take charge
Sankaran’s position will be taken over by Soumitro Ghosh, who was in charge of the financial services business. The Banking, Finance Services and Insurance (BFSI) business unit, which has grown to a $1.6-billion business under Ghosh, will now be headed by Shaji Farooq who joined from Infosys in September last year to head the Advanced Technologies business.
The Advanced Technologies business unit held by Farooq will be headed by Jeff Heenan-Jalil, the global head of telecom equipment and media verticals who has been with the company since 2007.
Another Wipro veteran G.K. Prasanna, who is the Senior Vice-President and Global Head for Product Engineering Solutions, has been given additional responsibility of heading the Global Infrastructure Services (GIS) business. All the recently appointed executives will be effective from January next year, the company said.
Wipro is following the footsteps of Infosys, which has made a slew of changes in its top management in August that included fresh faces to its leadership team, elevation of roles, creation of new business units and additional responsibilities. Industry watchers said that these top management changes reflect the fact that Indian IT companies are showing flexibility and under performing companies are starting to shake off their complacencies.
To grow aggressively
“Wipro has been an under performer and with this spate of reshuffles, the company is signalling its intent to grow aggressively going forward,” said A.K. Prabhakar, former Vice-President of Equity Research at Anand Rathi, a Mumbai-based brokerage firm.