Premji's son to join Wipro

To be business manager in the banking, finance and insurance vertical.

Rishad Premji, the eldest son of Wipro Chairman and CEO Azim Premji, is set to join the over $3 billion IT services provider in a modest way.

The 30-year-old Rishad "" an MBA from Harvard Business School "" will be inducted as a business manager in the banking, finance and insurance vertical, headed by Girish S Paranjpe. He will report to Soumitro Ghosh, senior vice-president in the banking and finance division.

He will be joining the company after the AGM slated in July this year, subject to shareholders' approval, since he happens to be the relative of the chairman.

Rishad, however, will not be entitled to any stock options, since he is a relative of the chairman, said Pratik Kumar, executive vice-president - human resources, at a conference call from the US. Incidentally, Azim Premji's second son, Tariq Premji, is with Azim Premji Investment, a team which takes care of Premji's personal wealth.

The $500-million (around Rs 2,025 crore) banking and finance vertical contributes around 23 per cent to Wipro Technologies, which is the global IT services business. It is the second largest revenue contributor for the company after the telecommunications and product engineering solutions' division.

Some of its key clients include JP Morgan, Aviva and Credit Suisse. Rishad's role will include client service and building up new practices in the banking and finance division.

This decision to rope in Rishad comes at a time when Premji will complete 62 years by July 2007. According to industry sources, he is expected to hand over the baton when he is 65.

"Three years will be a good enough time for Rishad to be groomed," they note. Even though, there is a possibility of Rishad joining the board, given the shareholding in the company, "he joined the company like another employee, through a careful scrutiny of his resume followed by several rounds of interviews and even one with Paranjpe," said Kumar.

"The propriety of his selection is not a question. We followed the same method for his selection. In his case, it was a strongly-desired profile, having one of the most desired MBA qualification and exposure to global business environment by working with GE and Bain Consulting," added Kumar.