Wipro tasks insider to revive fortunes in its No. 2 market

Wipro Ltd has named a new Europe head as the software services provider looks to revive business in this second biggest market.

On Monday evening, India’s fourth largest software services company appointed Omkar Nisal as the chief executive of its Europe business. Nisal, who is based out of London, will take over the role immediately, reporting to chief executive and managing director Srinivas Pallia. He will also be part of the company’s executive board.

Nisal succeeds Pierre Bruno, who headed the company’s Europe market since February 2021. While the company stated that Bruno stepped down, Mint could not independently ascertain if Bruno had left the company or whether he had just stepped down from his role.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company’s Europe business has underperformed.

Since Pierre Bruno took over as Wipro’s Europe head in February 2021, the company generated 28.4%, or $631 million, of its $2.22 billion January-March 2021 revenue from Europe. At the end of the three months through September, Wipro's Europe business accounted for 27.9%, or $742 million, of the company’s $2.66 billion quarterly revenue.

The Europe business clocked a compounded quarterly dollar revenue growth of 1.16% between 31 March 2021 and 30 September 2024, according to a Mint review. During this time, Wipro’s overall business managed a quarterly compounded revenue growth of 1.3%.

The slowdown in Europe, however, was not limited to Wipro.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd clocked an overall compounded quarterly growth of 1.78% and 1.77%, respectively. Meanwhile, their Europe businesses managed growth rates of 1.51% and 1.58%, respectively.

TCS, Infosys and HCLTech reported $2.42 billion, $1.46 billion, and $978 million in revenue from Europe for the quarter ended September 2024, respectively.

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For Pallia, who took over as Wipro chief executive on 6 April after his predecessor Delaporte was asked to leave, reviving the fortunes of Wipro is a tough ask. This is primarily because two of the companies’ geographies—Europe and Asia—have underperformed for a long time.

For Wipro’s Asia business, Pallia appointed a new head just over a month after taking over as CEO.

Vinay Firake took over as the head for Wipro’s business in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region on 10 May 2024. He succeeded Anis Chenchah, under whose watch the company’s revenue from clients in the geography declined.

Wipro generated $313 million in revenue from clients in Asia and Africa at the end of the three months through March 2022, a month before Chenchah took over. The company’s revenue from this region came down to $282 million by 30 June 2024, a month after Vinay Firake took over.

Europe is Wipro’s second largest geography. The company earned $3 billion, or 28.4% of its full-year revenue of $10.78 billion, from this market. Its biggest cash cow remains the US, from where the company generated 57% or $6.15 billion of its annual revenue for the year ended March 2024.

“Omkar’s strategic vision, combined with a strong understanding of the European market dynamics, well positions him to lead our ambitious plans for growth and expansion,” Pallia said in a press release to the exchanges on Monday. “With a strong customer-centric approach, Omkar will help build a resilient and adaptable organization poised for sustainable growth in the region.”

Both Nisal and Firake have been in Wipro for more than a decade. Their elevation to top jobs is an indication of Pallia promoting internal talent rather than relying on outside hires to steer the company to growth.

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“This (Nisal’s appointment) is a re-alignment to the old days when internal talent was promoted to top posts,” said a Mumbai-based analyst working at a domestic brokerage on the condition of anonymity.

Wipro has not been stable at the top.

More than two dozen senior executives ranked senior vice-president and above left the company since Frenchman Thierry Delaporte took over as CEO in July 2020. His successor also sought to bring about his own leaders to top posts. There have been seven changes at Wipro’s executive board, which comprises leaders from service lines and geography heads, since March last year.

Relying on internal talent is just one of the things that Pallia is doing to steer the company to growth after the company’s revenue fell last fiscal. He is also doing away with expensive lateral hires, shedding extra costs by shifting offsites teams once held at five-star locations in Paris and Dubai to the online mode, and shifting the nerve centre of the company from Paris.

Shareholders have reacted favourably to Pallia’s efforts. Wipro’s shares have gained nearly 19% since Pallia took over as CEO on 6 April. While Wipro outperformed TCS, which has seen its stock rise 8.4%, during the period, it has lagged Infosys and HCLTech with their shares surging 27% and 22%, respectively.

Investor optimism follows growth trajectories. In the first six months of the fiscal year, HCLTech reported the highest growth among India's top four IT services companies, growing at 5.98% over a year earlier. Infosys’ revenue grew 2.92% during the period.

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