Wipro CEO Abidali Neemuchwala steps down
The company said its board has initiated a search to find its next leader.
Wipro said its CEO Abidali Neemuchwala has resigned due to family commitments, a year before his term was scheduled to end, but that he would stay on until a successor was appointed. Analysts say a slew of internal candidates could be in the running.
Neemuchwala joined Wipro from TCS in April 2015 as Group President and COO. He was elevated to CEO in February 2016. Neemuchwala’s term at Wipro was due to end on Jan 31, 2021.
The company said its board has initiated a search to find its next leader.
“We thank Abid for his leadership and contributions to Wipro. Over the last four years, Abid helped build a strong execution mindset, drove key acquisitions and scaled our digital business globally,” chairman Rishad Premji said in a statement.
Industry experts said Neemuchwala had built a strong foundation at the Bengaluru-headquartered IT services company.
“Abid has built a strong foundation of financial performance and put in place strong digital assets on which the new CEO will build. I expect the new CEO will focus on accelerating growth and regaining Wipro’s place as a leading growth IT firm,” Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO of IT advisory firm Everest Research said.
Wipro has brought in outside talent over the last few years, who could be in the running for the top spot, analysts said.
“New leaders will emerge among the stable. They’ve had a good hires Harish Dwarkanhalli, Milan Rao. they also have great internal talent – Rajan Kohli,” Ray Wang, CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research said.
Dwarkanhalli joined Wipro from Cognizant in December and is responsible for the company’s cloud enterprise platforms. Milan Rao joined Wipro in 2017 from GE Healthcare. Rajan Kohli heads Wipro’s digital business.
