Abid Ali Neemuchwala to helm Wipro

Bengaluru: Wipro Ltd., on Monday followed in the footsteps of its cross-town peer Infosys in bringing an outsider to helm the company following three years of slow growth. Chairman Azim Premji announced the appointment of Abid Ali Neemuchwala as the $7 billion-revenue company's new CEO. Neemuchwala, 48, who joined India's No. 3 IT outsourcer last April from the leader of the pack, TCS, will replace incumbent T.K. Kurien, 58, on February 1. Kurien steps up to become Executive Vice-Chairman.  

In appointing Neemuchwala, Premji has chosen to get an outsider to helm the company at a time of slow growth but rapid change in technology and client requirements, rather than handing over the reins to son Rishad, 38, currently chief strategy officer. While Vishal Sikka has brought some verve to Infosys's story, analysts expect Neemuchwala to have a tougher time trying to bring Wipro, which has grown at half the industry average of 12-14 percent over the last two years, to speed.