Even as the spate high profile exits at IT major Wipro in recent times has alarmed industry observers, analysts, and shareholders alike—with the latest departure being that of CFO Jatin Dalal who has been with the company for over two decades—company CEO Thierry Delaporte believes that Wipro hasn't lost a lot of top talent.
In an interview to Mint, Delaporte, whose restructuring efforts some believe are the cause for much discontentment among top executives of the company, said the fact that people leave is "okay."
"Now, we have not lost a lot of top talent. We are retaining the talent we need to retain. For me, I’m always happy if one member of my team is going. Because everybody must progress in their career," he was quoted as saying.
He further said it is important to bring in new ideas and added that in order to change an organisation, it is important to hire new talent.
On Dalal's exit, Delaporte said he respects the decision of the CFO to leave and that the company has been grooming Aparna Iyer for the past two years to take over the role.
Wipro shares saw a steep decline of 2.44 per cent on Friday, closing at 418.50, following the news of Dalal's exit. Delaporte's defence of the exodus comes even as analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities had expressed concern over Dalal's exit in a note saying, "The loss of key leaders continuing into the fourth year of turnaround will not be viewed favorably by investors.”
Wirpo has been witnessing several high-profile exits in the recent past, including that of Dalal, chief operations officer Sanjeev Singh, India business head Satya Easwaran, Americas One CFO Kamini Shah, Americas Two CFO Nithin V. Jaganmohan, vice president Gurvinder Sahni, Middle East MD Mohammed Areff, and chief operations officer Sanjeev Singh.
While Delaporte played down the exodus, not all are of the same opinion.
Suresh Senapaty, a Wipro veteran who is a trusted lieutenant of Azim Premji, had recently told Moneycontrol that the company "must regain its intolerance toward losing great talent by working more deeper in understanding of its talent repository." He had termed the departure of Dalal "sad and disappointing."
