Top-Level Churn At Wipro Deepens With Two More Exits

The exodus of Wipro Ltd.’s senior management has deepened with two more exits, even as India’s fourth IT services firm grapples with an industry-wide slowdown.

Mohd Haque—senior vice president and sector head, healthcare and medical devices—has resigned, as has his peer Ashish Saxena, who was leading the Bengaluru-based IT firm’s manufacturing and hi-tech business, according to people aware of the matter. Their exit comes weeks after Wipro veteran Gurvinder Sahni left the company to join Persistent Systems Ltd. as chief marketing officer.

Wipro confirmed the exits in an email.

"Wipro can confirm that Mohd Haque will be leaving the company in June. Ashish Saxena and Gurvinder Sahni have left Wipro to pursue other opportunities," a spokesperson for the company said. "We thank them for their years of leadership and contribution."

The latest resignations add to the list of at least 14 senior-level exits at Wipro in the past year, most of whom have joined rival firms. These include: 

• Wipro Americas 2 CEO Angan Guha, who joined Birlasoft as CEO.

• Wipro COO Sanjeev Singh, who joined CMS Infosystems as CEO.

• Wipro Americas 2 CFO Nithin V. Jagmohan, who joined Xoriant as CFO.

• Wipro iDEAS head Rajan Kohli, who joined CitiusTech as CEO.

• Wipro Americas 1 CFO Kamini Shah, who joined Birlasoft as CFO.

The exits also come at a time when Wipro has failed to grow its profit in a year that saw an industry-wide slowdown, so much so that Chairman Rishad Premji’s annual compensation was reduced by half in the fiscal ended March 31.

To be sure, Wipro has continued to add leaders to the top rung. Earlier this year, the IT firm promoted 12 senior executives to the post of senior vice president, while 61 executives were elevated to the rank of vice president. These promotions are a recognition of their performance and potential, the company said then.

On Tuesday, shares of Wipro Ltd. rose 0.73% to Rs 402.50 apiece on the BSE, even as the benchmark Sensex ended the day 0.20% higher at 62,969.13 points.