Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte has my full support, board’s backing: Rishad Premji

“I want to re-emphasise, Thierry has my full support and the full support of the board as he takes the company forward,” Premji said at the Bengaluru-based firm’s 77th annual shareholder meeting, held virtually. Delaporte, who was appointed to the top role in July 2020, has two years remaining in the current term.

Experts have expressed concerns over Wipro’s underperformance in terms of growth and operating margins compared to its peers under Delaporte. Last month, Delaporte told ET that he had the full support of the board.

Premji, in his initial address to shareholders, also said the macro environment remained challenging.

“The Ukraine war entered its second year and global interest rates remain high. These factors affected clients’ spending, especially in the second half of the year (FY23) … but our portfolio of solutions has helped us react quickly and pertinently to these developments,” he said.

The company said banking, financial services and high-tech verticals have seen clients move to cost-optimisation projects over discretionary projects in the second half of FY23.

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Wipro is scheduled to report its first-quarter results on Thursday. Most brokerage houses expect its revenue decline to be in the guided range of 1-3% for the quarter. They also expect it to project revenue to be flat or grow up to 2% in the ongoing quarter compared with a year earlier.Premji said Delaporte operating out of Paris — as opposed to the US as planned earlier — is a “intentional and calculated” call of the management that results in better access to customers present across from East and West of Europe.

Delaporte said artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to change the nature of work across functions and the company will try to gain productivity and save time by harnessing the technology.

Earlier in the day, the company announced it will spend around $1 billion over the next three years on AI that includes creating new capabilities and reskilling the workforce.

In a chat with ET last month, Delaporte said there “could not have had a better board” as it supported the current team in every major decision and acquisition.

“Rishad as the chairman is a fabulous partner for me and I spend a lot of time with him. He plays his role as chairman and I’m very pleased with the way it works. And I think it’s very harmonious in the way it works,” he said at the time.

The 56-year-old Capgemini veteran has led an aggressive acquisition strategy that has seen Wipro acquire a dozen companies, shelling out about over $2.3 billion, in the last three years. However, amid a decline in tech spending globally, questions are being raised about the company’s growth forecast and timing of big-ticket buyouts, such as the $1.5-billion Capco deal.