MC Exclusive: Tech Mahindra may rope in former Infosys EVP Richard Lobo as new CHRO

Richard Lobo is currently evaluating three offers: from Cognizant for the role of India HR head; from Tech Mahindra for a global CHRO role; and from a listed Indian IT company, whose name could not be ascertained.

Tech Mahindra is in talks with Richard Lobo, former executive vice president and head of human resources at Infosys, to take on a global role as the company’s chief human resource officer (CHRO), people in the know told Moneycontrol. The IT services major is currently undergoing a leadership restructuring with CEO-designate Mohit Joshi set to take over from December.

An Infosys veteran, Lobo is currently an HR consultant and strategic advisor at embattled edtech unicorn BYJU’s. He was Joshi’s colleague at Infosys. Joshi was a president at Infosys overseeing several functions, including financial services, insurance, healthcare & life sciences and sales operations.

Moneycontrol has learned that Lobo is currently evaluating three offers: from Cognizant for the role of India HR head; from Tech Mahindra for a global CHRO role; and from a listed Indian IT company, whose name could not be ascertained.

Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S, too, is an Infosys veteran, who served as the company’s president.

Both Joshi and Kumar had non-poaching agreements with Infosys for a year, to be served from the date of their resigning. Kumar joined Cognizant in January 2023 and the clause may no longer be applicable in his case. Joshi,  however,  may still be bound by it.

But that wouldn’t be a hurdle in hiring Lobo, as he resigned from Infosys a few months ago and has been working at a different company, BYJU’s, ever since.

Joshi also recently hired another Infosys veteran, Atul Soneja, as the chief operating officer (COO). Prior to joining Tech Mahindra, Soneja was the COO of CitiusTech for two years.

Tech Mahindra didn’t comment on detailed queries sent by Moneycontrol at the time of publishing and Lobo, too, could not be reached for comment. This article will be updated to reflect any comments from them.

Tech Mahindra’s restructuring

Joshi officially announced the internal restructuring during the company’s second quarter earnings conference last month, wherein the company will now have a vertical-wise focus for delivery instead of Tech Mahindra’s previous geography-focused structure. Overall, the new CEO has created six focused business units: Americas Communication, Americas Technology Media, Americas diversified, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), APJ (Asia Pacific and Japan), and India.

The reshuffle, which will be effective January 1, will see some top leaders take on new roles. As part of that change, the current CHRO and head of marketing, Harshvendra Soin, is shifting his base to Australia to lead the consolidated Asia Pacific and Japan business.

Joshi had told the media during the earnings conference that the company has already made an offer to the new chief marketing officer, who will come on board in the next few months; and is in the process of looking for a new CHRO.

Tech M’s washout Q2 performance

As he takes over the company, Joshi has a big challenge ahead: to turn Tech Mahindra, which gets nearly 40 percent of its revenue from the communications, media and entertainment (CME) vertical, around. The segment has been hit lately as customers are looking to cut discretionary tech spends. Tech Mahindra now wants to diversify its business into other verticals such as financial services and healthcare.

The company's second quarter ended September 30 was disappointing in terms of performance. CEO and MD CP Gurnani called the past two quarters as the toughest he has seen. Gurnani is retiring from the top role on December 19.

Tech Mahindra's net profit plunged 61.6 percent YoY to Rs 494 crore during the second quarter. Consolidated revenue for Q2 declined 2 percent YoY to Rs 12,864 crore, while the EBIT margin or operating margin plunged 210 bps QoQ to just 4.7 percent.