Interview - Wipro Chairman Azim Premji

In an interview with Financial Times Premji goes strikingly candid on what went wrong with Wipro. We added too many layers, which resulted in a massive bureaucracy, he says. Cutting deadwood is his natural solution and the process is already underway. Premji also says Wipro will hire more freshers. Last year 45% of new hires came from campuses. Yhis year it will be 70%.


Here are excerpts:

'I think where it went wrong was that we over-bureaucratised the organisation,' Mr Premji tells the Financial Times during a visit to London. 'We created too many layers. I think we have enough people in middle management and supervisory levels. We don�t want to be top-heavy.'

On the new CEO Kurien�s agenda: 'The most important thing is restoring employee morale, customer satisfaction and getting the sales engine working again. He has to do it,' Mr Premji says. 'The stakes are so large, you can�t carry dead wood.'