Wipro’s emerging heads given additional duties as Rajat Mathur quits

BANGALORE: Wipro has given additional duties to senior executives overseeing emerging markets after the head of its growth markets business unit, Rajat Mathur, resigned after three decades at the country’s thirdlargest software exporter.

Soumitro Ghosh, the chief executive of Wipro Infotech and the India and Middle East business, will take additional charge of Asia-Pacific and Japan while Ulrich Meister, senior vice president for continental Europe, will take on the additional role of overseeing the Africa business. A Amarnath will be in charge of business in Latin America, the company said in a statement. Mathur was head of sales and operations for Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America and reported to CEO TK Kurien.

The Bangalore-based IT firm made these changes as it aims for a higher growth in emerging economies, including Asia-Pacific, Africa and South America. Mathur is the second senior executive to leave Wipro in recent days — Wipro BPO head Manoj Punja resigned and was replaced by Nagendra Bandaru.

“After spending nearly three decades with Wipro, Rajat Mathur, the incumbent head of sales and operations for Growth Markets, has decided to move on to pursue interests outside of Wipro,” said a company statement. Back-to-back exits at Wipro come as a surprise to some as the company has seen relatively few resignations at senior levels over the last two years.

“When it comes to attrition at the senior management level, Wipro for the last two years seems to have been relatively well-placed. So it is surprising when two senior executives leave around the same time,” said a Mumbai-based analyst at a foreign brokerage.

Mathur, who resigned last week, is credited with starting Wipro’s IT business in the Middle-East. He also launched the company’s software business in India, which now generates revenue of about $1 billion for the company.