Azim Premji-led Wipro Ltd, India's third-largest software services provider, has appointed Abid Ali Neemuchwala as group president and chief operating officer (COO), according to a stock market disclosure. His appointment is effective from April 1, 2015.
Neemuchwala is joining Wipro from TCS where he spent almost two-and-a-half decades. He has held several leadership positions during the tenure and resigned from the firm last month.
The 47-year old was not only instrumental in driving TCS' BPO strategy, but also headed the process excellence group that focused on TCS' internal processes.
An electronics & communication engineer from NIT, Raipur, Neemuchwala has a master’s in Industrial Management from IIT, Mumbai.
In his new role at Wipro, he will head the service lines of global infrastructure services, business application services, business process services and advanced technology solutions. Neemuchwala will also head business operations across continental Europe, Africa and LATAM; strategic engagements, advisor relationships as well as the marketing function.
“Abid brings invaluable experience with his track record of building and scaling businesses. I am confident his deep understanding of technology and expertise in all facets of IT & BPS businesses will help power our businesses to greater heights," said TK Kurien, CEO & member of the board, Wipro.
The appointment will set Kurien free to focus on future strategy and technology.
The new appointment also possibly sets a new line of management in place as a potential succession plan for life after 55-year-old Kurien hangs his boots.
He was named as CEO of Wipro four years ago after the IT services major scrapped its previous top leadership structure involving two joint CEOs. Kurien had taken over from Girish Paranjpe and Suresh Vaswani.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)