India's largest staffing firm Quess Corp's Group CEO and board member Suraj Moraje has stepped down, effective February 10. The company also appointed Guruprasad Srinivasan, COO India region, to the position for three years.
Srinivasan joined the firm in 2007, and has been chief operating officer since July 2019.
Ajit Isaac, chairman, said in a statement, “We are delighted to have a home-grown leader come on board as the next ED&CEO of the Company. Guru’s journey with us as one of the founding members, leadership across businesses during the growth & consolidation phase of Quess and his exceptional track record makes him an outstanding choice to further accelerate our business transformation and shape our culture. His priorities will be to develop our market share, enhance margins through technology adoption and discover value for our shareholders in our digital assets”.
“We are very grateful to Suraj for his transformational leadership during which he has delivered outstanding results at Quess and wish him the very best as he pursues other interests outside of Quess," he said.
Commenting about the transition, Moraje said in a statement, “It’s been an honour to lead the wonderful team at Quess, and to work with the guidance of the Board on the company's transformation. I sincerely thank each Quessian for the impact achieved over the last years. My heartiest congratulations to my colleague Guru, an exceptional choice to lead Quess to even greater heights in the years to come”.
Srinivasan, Group CEO & ED, Quess Corp, added, “I am privileged to be taking over the reins of Quess Corp at an exciting time for this industry. Quess is a very special organization for me with a deep commitment to creating long-term shareholder value, customer delight & continuing a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Change of guard
The appointment comes signals continuity and stability, as its business is still recovering after the pandemic wrought havoc on the staffing industry. The staffing industry was one of the worst-hit when the pandemic struck in April 2020 as companies paused their hiring plans due to uncertainty around the pandemic.
Moneycontrol was the first to report this development on February 9. According to sources Moneycontrol spoke to Moraje's exit was likely due to differences in strategy between him and founder, Ajit Isaac. "While Quess had an aggressive expansion strategy and was spreading itself too thinly in various businesses, Moraje streamlined things and exited loss-making businesses. He brought a lot of focus on cash flow and profitability," a source said.
Quess Corp had brought Moraje as group CEO in November 2019 from McKinsey, where he was a senior partner and a leader in the firm's Asia TMT practice. A graduate of NIT Surat and IIM A, Moraje has over 20 years of experience in helping institutions across sectors such as tech, IT services, financial services, telecom, and media on strategic and operational issues.
New CEO
Srinivasan is a founding member and was the fourth employee of the company. He has more than 25 years of experience of industry experience, including leadership roles at GE Health, Hewitt Associates and People One Consulting. He is a Stanford Ignite graduate from Stanford University Graduate School of Business, in addition to Master's in Business Administration from Kamataka State Open University.
Quess performance
The company registered revenue of Rs 3,684.9 crore in October to December 2021 quarter, up 31 percent from Rs 2,808 crore for the same period last year. Its profits increased 94 percent year-on-year to Rs 89 crore.
Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Bengaluru, Quess Corp offers staffing and managed outsourcing services across processes such as sales and marketing, customer care, after-sales, back office, manufacturing operations, facilities, and security management, among others. It claims to be the country's largest staffing firm with over four lakh associates. It bought job listing portal Monster's India unit and HCL Infosystems' care business in 2018.
Promoters' holding in the company, which includes Quess promoter Ajit Isaac and Fairfax, is close to 52 percent. Fairfax Financial Holdings, owned by Indian Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa, holds 30 percent through its subsidiary Fairbridge Capital Mauritius Limited, while Isaac holds 22 percent. Quess listed on the exchanges in July 2016.
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