Wipro’s Vivek Paul is one of the best managers

Wipro vice-chairman Vivek Paul has been selected as one of the best managers for the year 2003 by American business magazine Businessweek.

Paul is the only Indian in the list of ‘best and worst managers of the year’, published in the magazine’s latest issue, a Wipro statement said here on Wednesday. Paul shares the honours with 17 other managers including Apple’s Steve Jobs, NBC chairman Bob Wright, Intel CEO Craig Barret, Alcatel’s Serge Tchuruk, Samsung’s Yun Jong Yong and Starbucks’ CEO Orin Smith. ‘‘Five years ago, when Vivek Paul told his boss Jeff Immelt that he was leaving his post as global head of GE Medical Systems to join an obscure, $150 million Indian software and services and hardware company, Immelt tried to dissuade him. But Paul joined Wipro anyway.

Now Wipro is India’s largest listed IT-services company, with revenues near $1 billion,’’ Wipro quoted Businessweek as saying. It said Paul’s key accomplishments are that Wipro has grown from being a $150 million company in 1999 to a nearly $1 billion company today and that his ‘‘strategy for growth by acquisition is helping Wipro steal business from the likes of IBM Global and Accenture.’’ (PTI)