Spotlight on LTIMindtree’s top job after global markets head quits

LTIMindtree Ltd’s president of global markets, Sudhir Chaturvedi, has quit the company, leaving chief operating officer Nachiket Deshpande as the frontrunner to succeed current chief executive Debashis Chatterjee, whose tenure ends later this year.

Chaturvedi, who joined Larsen and Toubro Infotech Ltd in September 2016, was entrusted with the role of president to head its global markets team in November 2022 when LTI merged with Mindtree Ltd to form LTIMindtree.

Before Chaturvedi’s resignation, he was considered among the favourites to succeed Chatterjee, along with Deshpande. Now, LTIMindtree’s top spot might appear a little closer to Deshpande, who took over as COO of LTI in December 2018 and then as COO of LTIMindtree in November 2022.

“Internally, it makes all sense to elevate the COO to the position of CEO because he knows the company and its functions all too well, considering he’s been in the company since it was formed,” said a Mumbai-based analyst working at a domestic brokerage, speaking the on condition of anonymity.

Chaturvedi’s resignation follows that of former chief financial officer Vinit Teredesai in April 2024, who joined Persistent Systems Ltd as its CFO in the following month.

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Chaturvedi resigned from the Mumbai-based company to pursue new opportunities outside the organization, according to the press release filed by the company to the stock exchanges.

“From fostering strong relationships with some of our most esteemed clients to stepping in during critical moments of troubleshooting, Sudhir consistently demonstrated exceptional strategic acumen and a steadfast passion to excellence. He has been a great colleague and a friend for life,” said S.N Subrahmanyan, chairman of LTIMindtree, in a company filing.

Chaturvedi, who turned 55 last week, is expected to work in his role until 27 January, according to his resignation letter. LTIMindtree did not name a successor.

But analysts have not ruled out an external candidate to succeed Chatterjee as the CEO. Phil Fersht, chief executive of HFS Research, expects Venu Lambu to return to the company at the helm.

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Both Lambu and Chatterjee worked in Cognizant between 2012 and 2019, before reuniting in Mindtree when the former joined in January 2020.

“I expect Venu Lambu to come back to the firm to take the helm. He’s a proven client focused executive and had a big impression during his last tenure,” said Fersht.

Lambu resigned as the chief executive of Randstad Digital, Netherlands-based digital transformation company, and is expected to leave the company by the end of January this year.

A message sent to Lambu remained unanswered.

LTIMindtree, which ended last year with $4.29 billion in revenue, is likely to have a new chief executive once current CEO Debashis Chatterjee’s tenure ends later this year.

Chaturvedi’s resignation comes less than a week after the company announced its October-December 2024 period earnings. The IT services provider reported $1.14 billion in revenue for the third quarter, up 1.1% sequentially and 5.1% on a yearly basis. Much of this growth came on the back of banks, which make up about 36% of its overall revenue.

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LTIMindtree was formed after the construction-to-financial services conglomerate L&T Group made a hostile bid for Mindtree in 2019. L&T merged its IT services arm, L&T Infotech, with Mindtree effective November 2022.

A key challenge even before the merger has been to retain top talent. At least nine top executives ranked senior vice-president and above left the company since the company’s merger was announced in May 2022.

Notable departures include Paresh Vankar, former chief marketing officer, who left in October 2023; Dinesh Bajaj, former senior vice-president and chief business officer, who left in September 2023; Venugopal Lambu, whole time director and markets president who resigned on 10 January 2023; and Suresh Bethavandu, who quit as chief people officer of LTIMindtree in March 2023.

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