Indian SaaS giant Wipro has announced that it is building a dedicated division for artificial intelligence (AI). Wipro’s AI-Native Business and Platforms unit will be working on building agentic AI solutions for entreprises. Wipro was one of the many SaaS companies who faced a big setback in the stock market following the SaaSpocalypse triggered by Anthropic’s Claude Cowork.
Nagendra Bandaru has been appointed as the CEO of Wipro’s AI unit. Bandaru has spent almost three decades at the Indian IT giant. As part of this role, he will report directly to Wipro CEO and Managing Director Srini Pallia.He previously served as the President and Managing Partner of Technology Services Global Business Lines (GBL).
Former Accenture executive Kanwar Singh fills in for Bandaru in the GBL role.
What will Wipro’s AI unit do?
The AI-native unit will bring Wipro’s platform assets under one roof. This includes industry-specific platforms such as NetOxygen for AI-powered lending, CROAMIS for aviation cargo, and healthcare platforms IHS and HPS.
Wipro aims to develop enterprise-grade agentic AI solutions and create new AI-led business streams. The AI unit is expected to work in collaboration with Wipro Ventures and its partner ecosystem.
Do note, that Wipro has previously partnered with Microsoft to use GenAI-powered tools via Azure OpenAI. Capco, a Wipro subsidiary, signed a deal with OpenAI last year.
Wipro is not the only Indian SaaS company working on AI solutions. Earlier this year, TCS confirmed that it was building an AI-native OS for businesses.
The AI boom has particularly raised fears over the future of SaaS companies, as tools like Claude Cowork are said to have the potential to automate such tasks. Anthropic, which started just five years ago, now has a market cap of $380 billion, higher than the value of Infosys, Wipro, TCS, HCL combined.
Wipro America 2 unit chief resigns
Wipro has also confirmed that Suzanne Dann, CEO of its Americas-2 Strategic Market Unit, has resigned. The Americas-2 unit accounts for approximately one-third of Wipro’s revenue and includes the Canada market along with banking, financial services, and energy businesses in the US.
Dann is believed to be leaving the firm to pursue personal opportunities.
