HCL Technologies appoints Vijay Kumar as COO

HCL Technologies appointed C Vijay Kumar as chief operating officer in addition to his present role as president of infrastructure services, which contributes about 40% of the company’s revenue. He will report to chief executive officer Anant Gupta.

Experts said given the headwinds such as Brexit facing the industry, the dual leadership structure will help the CEO drive customer acquisition and mining of existing clients, while the COO can focus on execution. They also don’t rule out the move as succession planning.

Gupta, who also headed infrastructure services earlier, was elevated to the position of CEO in January 2013, five months after he was appointed COO of HCL Technologies. “A role of chief operating officer has been established to accelerate growth in the core business,” HCL said in a statement.

“I think it will give Anant more bandwidth to focus on strategy and revenue generating initiatives. Margins have been volatile in the recent past. Also, they need to do significant cost optimizations with Volvo and Geometric deals/acquisitions,” said Sandeep Muthangi, VP Research at IIFL Institutional Equities.

Muthangi said the only small issue is that Kumar is based in the US. “COO roles are usually based close to the delivery locations,” he said.

SOURCE: PTI