Wipro to name B.M. Bhanumurthy as chief operating officer

Wipro Ltd has named B.M. Bhanumurthy as its chief operating officer (COO), after elevating Abid Ali Neemuchwala as chief executive on 4 January, an executive familiar with the development said.

Also, as part of the latest restructuring, executive vice-chairman T.K. Kurien will oversee Wipro’s two most strategically-important business units—Wipro Digital and Business Outcome Services (BOS)—for a few months, after which Neemuchwala will take complete control of the Bengaluru-based company.

“Bhanumurthy will be the COO and all service lines (software delivery side of business, including SAP and Oracle practices and product engineering) will report to him. All vertical heads will continue to report into the CEO,” said the executive, who did not want to be identified.

Bhanumurthy currently heads application services and strategic alliances at Wipro.

India’s third-largest software firm is expected to make a formal announcement in the coming days.

The real test for Neemuchwala, some believe, will be how the former Tata Consultancy Services Ltd executive marshals his team to keep Wipro’s growth comparable to cross-city rival Infosys Ltd in the coming fiscal.

Wipro, which had revenue of $7.1 billion for the year ended 31 March, generated $463 million in incremental revenue in that period to edge past Infosys, which got about $462 million in additional business to end the year with $8.7 billion in revenue. However, Wipro’s underperformance in the first two quarters of the current fiscal suggests that it runs the risk of growing at the slowest pace since 2010 even as a resurgent Infosys looks to win back the bellwether tag from Mumbai-based TCS.

On Wednesday afternoon, Neemuchwala and Kurien briefed senior executives over lunch at upscale Crowne Plaza hotel on the move to have a COO.

Additionally, G.K. Prasanna, president and head of Wipro’s infrastructure practice, will head a new unit called Marketing, Innovations and Technology (MIT). Bhanumurthy and Prasanna are expected to appoint heads of the businesses they oversee in coming days.

A Wipro spokesman confirmed these developments and said the new structure will come into effect from 1 February.

“MIT will comprise of the CTO & CIO Offices, marketing, strategic engagements, and integrated solutions group. This new team will focus on non-linear growth engines, products and platform-based services, integrated solutions, research, and new technologies,” the company spokesman said, adding that Bhanumurthy and G.K. Prasanna will continue to report to Neemuchwala.