Wipro introduces new global business lines as Pallia sets to complete a year

Wipro Ltd has rejigged its global business lines to align with clients’ needs, reflecting chief executive Srini Pallia’s efforts towards scripting a turnaround at India’s fourth-largest information technology (IT) services company amid declining revenues and macroeconomic challenges.

The Bengaluru-based IT outsourcer announced the departure of Jo Debecker, who headed Wipro’s FullStride cloud services business as part of his three-year stint at the company.

Debecker’s departure marks the 10th top-level change at Wipro since Pallia took over as CEO on 6 April. In seven of the 10 exits, internal candidates have replaced the outgoing executives.

Wipro said in a statement on Friday that it had reorganised its four business arms under Technology Services, Business Process Services, Consulting Services, and Engineering.

The change in business lines will be effective from 1 April.

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The Technology Services business line will deliver cloud-enabled and industry-specific technology solutions. It will also focus on cyber security, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and enterprise applications. This business arm will be led by Nagendra Bandaru, who has been with Wipro for 26 years and previously headed digital operations and platforms for the company’s cloud and infrastructure service units.

Wipro’s Business Process Services wing will focus on digital operations and customer support work for clients. It will be led by Jasjit Kang, who previously headed digital operations and platforms.

The Consulting Services business arm will provide advisory and transformation services and will be led by Amit Kumar, who was previously with Accenture Consulting.

The company’s Engineering business line will focus on engineering, research and development services. It will continue to be led by Srikumar Rao, a Wipro veteran with 26 years in the company.

Wipro does not call out revenue from each of its business arms.

A second consecutive decline

This is the second time in three years that the company has tweaked its business structure. The last such change was brought about in April 2023 when Frenchman Thierry Delaporte was the chief executive.

Under Delaporte’s watch, Wipro had organised itself into four business lines from 1 April 2023—Wipro FullStride Cloud, Wipro Enterprise Futuring, Wipro Engineering Edge, and Wipro Consulting.

Wipro is expected to post a second consecutive year of full-year revenue decline, albeit not as much as in 2023-24.

“This evolution of our business lines will enable us to further sharpen our focus towards client needs with consulting-led and AI-powered solutions,” Pallia said in the press statement. “This realignment will allow us to serve our clients better, enabling us to deliver tailored, high-impact transformation.”

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Wipro ended 2023-24 with $10.8 billion in revenue, down 2.2% on a yearly basis, becoming the only one of India’s top four IT services companies to end the financial year with a revenue decline.

In the nine months ended December 2024, Wipro’s revenue declined 4.2% year-on-year to $7.78 billion. 

The company is expected to end the fourth quarter of this fiscal year with IT services revenue of $2.6-2.66 billion, according to Wipro’s management. This implies that even if Wipro reports the upper-end of its estimate for the fourth quarter, it will likely end FY25 with a second consecutive full-year revenue decline.

Navigating uncertainties

For now, Pallia is looking to keep things simple to steer Wipro out of choppy waters. The company is not looking to sign or renew deals below its operating margins of 16%, and expensive team offsites are being shifted to virtual mode.

But macroeconomic challenges linger.

In recent weeks, Morgan Stanley, Kotak Institutional Equities, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, and JM Financial have forecast slower-than-anticipated growth for India’s $283-billion IT industry. This gloomy outlook comes on the back of high lending rates, geopolitical uncertainty, and imposition of additional tariffs by the new Donald Trump administration in the US.

Still, at least one analyst was pleased with the changes at Wipro amid the macroeconomic uncertainty.

“It makes perfect sense to merge cloud and AI as their strategies are increasingly intertwined,” said Phil Fersht, chief executive of HFS Research, a Massachusetts-based tech advisory firm. “Business process services has a very different set of needs in terms of talent, pricing, client retention, and sales, so bringing this out can help Wipro’s leadership with its development and visibility.”