With Delaporte gone, can legacy hand Srinivas Pallia steer Wipro through the AI
₹441, a 7.5% drop from its 10 April closing price of ₹477.70. Systematix Institutional Equities, meanwhile, has a “hold" rating on Wipro with a target of ₹440 per share. The Bengaluru-headquartered company has seen an exodus of top talent, including chief financial officer (CFO) Jatin Dalal, who joined rival Cognizant, and Rajan Kohli, the digital business head, who joined as chief executive officer (CEO) of Citrus Tech last April.
Chief growth officer Stephanie Trautman quit last December to “pursue goals outside Wipro". More than 20 executives ranked senior vice president and above quit Wipro on outgoing CEO Thierry Delaporte’s watch. In the middle rung, almost half of the 750 executives designated general manager and above quit in the last four years.
Interestingly, Pallia will be the eighth CEO since Y2K to lead Wipro. The top job has been rotated among outside hires and internal candidates, and half of them, including Thierry Delaporte, left before completing their terms. While leadership continuity is a challenge, Wipro’s metrics also paint a picture of a company struggling to regain its stride.
The top four services providers have seen their operating margins contract in recent years, with Wipro reporting the largest contraction of 570 bps, between the December 2020 and 2023 quarters. It reported the lowest margin of 16.1% for the quarter ended December 2023, when TCS reported 24.2% and HCL Tech, 18.5%. Delaporte led Wipro to a dozen acquisitions in a bid to accelerate growth and improve margins, including Capco, the largest in Wipro’s history, but those bets haven’t begun paying off.
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