India’s third largest software exporter Wipro has hired a top executive from larger rival Tata Consultancy Services to head its 
emerging markets business, marking the second such hire from the Mumbai-based outsourcing firm since former TCS veteran Abidali Z Neemuchwala joined Wipro as chief operating officer in March.
TCS veteran Ankur Prakash, who was previously the COO of the company’s Latin America business, has now been mandated to lead Wipro’s emerging markets business, a role in which he will report directly to Neemuchwala, according to two people directly familiar with the development. Both of them requested anonymity.
When contacted, a Wipro spokesperson confirmed Prakash’s appointment. “Wipro Ltd can confirm the appointment of Ankur Prakash as vice president — emerging markets, comprising Latin America, Africa and Canada. He will report to Abidali Z Neemuchwala, group president & chief operating officer,” a Wipro spokesperson said in an email to ET.
Before Prakash, Wipro had also hired former TCS and IBM executive David D’Lima to head its newly-created integrated services and solutions group — an initiative that is personally being driven by Neemuchwala as he tries to replicate a strategy of bundling together services and solutions that multinational rivals such as IBM have adopted for years to serve top clients.
“(One of the changes) that I’ve brought about is creating an integrated services and solutions group with a team of experts. The future of the industry is about going to the customer and solving the customer’s problems. If it takes five of your offerings or service lines or practices to come together to do it, you need to do it internally, in the back office,” said Neemuchwala in an August interview.
