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Journalism of Courage
Thierry Delaporte resigned as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Wipro on Saturday following a fraught few years for India’s No. 4 IT services company.
Srinivas Pallia, a 32 year veteran of the company, will take over as CEO and managing director from April 7, Wipro said in a statement, adding Delaporte was leaving to “pursue passions outside the workplace”.
Delaporte, whose five-year term was set to end in July 2025, according to an older exchange filing, said in the company’s statement that he was “proud of the solid foundation” he had helped to lay for Wipro.
The company has had a turbulent few years, with its operating model changing twice in three years, several top level departures, and some expensive acquisitions that did not translate to growth.
Wipro is likely to be the only one of India’s top four IT firms to end the most recent fiscal year with a drop in revenue.
Phil Fersht, the founder of HFS Research, said Delaporte was not leading Wipro in the right direction and his departure was not a surprise.
“He also was not spending nearly enough time visiting his teams in India or U.S.. The morale at Wipro was at an all time low,” he added.
Delaporte could not immediately be reached for further comment. He will remain at the company until May 31.
Pallia has been head of Wipro’s Americas 1 market, as part of which he oversaw the sectors of healthcare, consumer goods, life sciences, retail, and others in the geography.
Wipro’s rivals have also seen changes at the top. Industry leader Tata Consultancy Services promoted insider K Krithivasan to CEO last year after Rajesh Gopinathan quit abruptly, while Infosys veteran Mohit Joshi took over as Tech Mahindra CEO in December 2023.
LTIMindtree has identified two internal candidates for its top job, as it is unlikely to extend CEO Debashis Chatterjee’s term that is set to end next year, sources told Reuters earlier this year.
