Wipro recast is interim step: observers

The new dispensation in Wipro is "an interim arrangement", according to sources familiar with the corporate thinking in the company.

Chairman Azim Premji has gone in for this arrangement as his efforts to find "a better replacement (than the triumvirate arrangement) did not fall in place at the right moment."

Another source, familiar with Premji's thinking, said the interim nature of the arrangement was apparent from the fact that Wipro has a well-rehearsed succession plan, conducted as a regular yearly exercise.

Adopting the new arrangement, despite this drill, "means one of three things - Premji is not yet ready to retire, or his successor is not yet ready, or his is waiting for his son to get ready to step in."

But the interim setup is strong and is capable of looking after the business, "indicating the depth and width of the management capability built up in the company."

"The new team is quite capable of taking the company to the $3 billion level. But to take it to $ 10 billion in ten years you need a CEO, hence the surmise that this is an interim arrangement," he added.

Another source, familiar with the company, emphasised the strength of the new team.

"When a business gets as complex as Wipro, the largest private employer in the country, then it creates its own resilience. None of the trio is a greenhorn. They are all solid people. Remember, Vivek Paul may have been vice chairman but the centre of gravity was here, not in the US where Paul functioned."

He said it would be wrong to see any relationship between the departure of Raman Roy, the head till recently of Wipro Spectramind, and Paul. Roy was an entrepreneur, who would have exited sooner or later.

Paul, on the other hand, may have wanted the company to grow at a faster pace, which was a riskier option. Premji, on the other hand, may have put stability and profitability above rapid growth. "Don't forget Paul unveiled the four by four vision five years ago "" $ 4 billion in four years."

Sources, in particular, discounted the theory that Premji could not live with a high profile deputy. One of them said emphatically, "Premji knows his own strengths and weaknesses. He is an open book. It is amazing that he has not allowed a single blood relative into the company till date."