Profile

Covering the entire gamut

A journey of three decades and an association with some of the top IT brands—Sudip Banerjee, CEO, L&T Infotech, encapsulates his career in a conversation with Renuka Vembu

Sudip Banerjee

His modest beginnings gave him a broader view of life and a deeper sense of people. His father was a senior government official; this gave the young Banerjee an opportunity to grow up all over India. He was exposed to new schools and teachers and different ways of learning, meeting new people, making new friends and finding out more about customs and cultures. His schooling days were across cities like Patna, Guwahati and Kolkata, while he pursued his higher education in Delhi—B.A. Hons. in Economics from Delhi University and Diploma in Management from AIMA, Delhi. This made Banerjee a truly cosmopolitan and sub-continental Indian. These facets of life in the early stages helped mould him into a complete individual at the later stages of his career.

The career spread

He started his career in the IT industry in 1979, at HCL. The initial tryst as a computer salesman not only taught him the basics of selling, but provided him with an insight into people too—their buying behaviour, the knack of dealing with different kinds of people, how to make the deal work, what clicks and what does not, etc. The progress to becoming the sales manager made him aware of a host of other people-related aspects as well—their needs and concerns, dealing with high-pressured jobs, lessening their anxiety, etc.

Banerjee joined Wipro in 1983 as one of the founder members of the IT group of the company. Subsequently, he took up the position of Regional Manager. In 1993, he assumed charge as the General Manager for the software products business; this was his first transition from hardware into software. It was an all-India role encompassing the aspects of channel distribution, appointing dealers, etc. He was also instrumental in starting alliances with software companies like Adobe, Netscape and Macromedia. Banerjee was responsible for steering the Software Products business into an independent division which he headed as Vice President.

“In April 1997, I moved as Group Vice President, Human Resources, for Wipro Infotech Group. During this stint I was responsible for the HR function for both domestic and global operations and was instrumental in driving organizational changes, leading to the formation of the software services part of Wipro (Wipro Technologies). This opened my eyes to people policies, ESOP schemes, etc.” Banerjee recounted.

From October 1999 until January 2002, he worked as the Chief Executive, Operations and Staffing, of Wipro Technologies. His responsibilities included creation and setting up of development centres, resources, staffing and training, administration and facilities and Infrastructure Management.

Being an integral part of these different roles and functions gave him new windows of learning. The challenge for him was to continually adapt to the demands and skills of the new role whilst unwinding but still retaining the ones learnt. Implementation of new policies and procedures was a tough task that he faced at every step of the way.

In January 2002, Banerjee assumed charge as President, Enterprise Solutions. Under his stewardship, the Enterprise Solutions Division grew from revenues of US$ 160 million to US$ 1.4 billion in six years. “I headed a number of industry verticals and horizontals including manufacturing, retail, energy and utilities, media, healthcare, etc., and a team of over 19,000 employees at the time of leaving Wipro,” he recollected.

Gaining insight

As the Chief Executive Officer of L&T Infotech, his goal is to build the company as a leader in the IT industry. One of his major achievements has been, being a part of the team that built one of India’s largest IT company. He is a self motivated man and also is inspired by the likes of Nelson Mandela and Dr. APJ Adbul Kalam, who battled the disadvantages and crossed several hurdles to achieve a lot in life. They are the ones who have endeared the struggle to become successful in their areas of work.

To battle the current financially tough times, he quickly pointed out, ‘Be close to the customer, conserve cash, focus on operations, invest for the future.’ Addressing customers, opening up of newer territories, selling more services and solutions can help tide the wave. Building relationships with customers and vendors and grasping opportunities in this adversity will help tide over the crisis. His message to the young aspiring leaders is, ‘Be thorough, develop sound industry and job knowledge, lead from the front, keep learning continually.’

A few words

Banerjee’s wife Sumita runs a private tutorial service, and his son Sujoy is studying in the UK. Though he has no time for hobbies, his interests include cricket, golf and quiz.

renuka.vembu@expressindia.com