Rishad Premji to join Wipro

BANGALORE: The succession plan at Wipro, the third largest software services exporter from India, seems to be well laid out with the owner’s son coming into the company, though for now, as an employee.Rishad Premji, the elder son of Azim Premji, chairman Wipro, will be joining the company in July putting an end to long-term speculation, on to whom Premji Senior would pass on the baton.

“Rishad Premji is going to join Wipro at a level commensurate with his background and experience. His joining has been approved by the board and is subject to shareholder approval. This is required statutorily because he is a relative of a director,” Wipro stated in a formal announcement.

In a conference call from the US, Pratik Kumar, executive VP — HR, Wipro, pointed out that it was not the company which took the initiative in bringing in Rishad, but that he (Rishad) had expressed his desire to come back to India. “He has a high level of familiarity with Wipro,” he added.

Rishad would be joining the financial services vertical as business manager and report to a senior VP. He is an MBA from Harvard Business School and has had stints in General Electric and Bain & Co. His last place of work was Bain in London; and he was business development executive handling financial systems there.

Mr Kumar clarified that Rishad was coming into Wipro as an employee and not on the board of directors, but added, “It is a logical possibility, given the shareholding structure, that he may come on the board.” Mr Premji has been the chairman of Wipro since September 1968 and holds 79.58% stake in the company. Mr Kumar said, given Rishad’s background and work experience, he has a role within Wipro and the roadmap would depend on his growth.

People associated with Wipro said it is not surprising that Rishad is joining the company. They said Azim Premji is likely to give his son a considerable period of time to get a grip on things within the company. Mr Premji’s second son, Tareeq, was associated with the Azim Premji Foundation and is currently involved with Azim Premji Investments.