Wipro CEO and MD Abidali Neemuchwala has announced that he will step down from his role citing family commitments, exactly a year before the completion of his tenure. Neemuchwala who took over the reins of the country’s fourth-largest IT services firm on February 1, 2016 said in his parting note that he is thankful to Wipro founder Azim Premji, his son and Chairman Rishad Premji, the Board of Directors and other colleagues for their support. He added that Wipro has made considerable progress in its transformation journey, improved its delivery engine and institutionalised deeper client centricity.
"The Board of Directors has initiated a search to identify the next CEO. Abid will continue to hold the office of CEO & Managing Director until a successor is appointed for a smooth transition and to ensure that business continues as usual," Wipro said in a statement.
Neemuchwala who joined Wipro as its Chief Operating Officer (COO) in 2015 after working with Tata Consultancy Services while strengthening its Business Process Outsourcing segment was redesignated as the firm's CEO nearly a year later.
Under his tenure, Wipro saw double-digit growth in the digital revenues over the last few consecutive quarters, although the firm’s overall growth in revenues did not match the industry standards. Wipro’s net profit fell by 3.2% YOY to Rs 2, 462 crore from Rs 2,544 crore in the December quarter of FY20 even as the revenue increased by 2.7% YoY. HCL Tech which overtook Wipro to become India’s third-largest ITes firm last year raised its revenue guidance for FY20 while recording a 14.7% sequential growth in its net profit that stood at Rs Rs 3,037 crore in Q3 of FY20.
Wipro saw a double-digit increase in its digital services revenue under Neemuchwala's tenure which contributed to 40 percent of the firm’s overall revenue. It also secured major deals in the IT services segment in the Middle East, Japan and the UK in the December quarter of FY20. Its digital and cloud application services arm won contracts from big healthcare companies in the US and Europe.
“We thank Abid for his leadership and his contributions to Wipro. Over the last four years, Abid helped build a strong execution mindset, drove key acquisitions and scaled our Digital business globally. We wish him the very best for the future,” said Chairman Rishad Premji.