Hexaware Technologies Ltd on Wednesday ended chief executive officer (CEO) Ramakarthikeyan Srikrishna’s 12-year tenure, naming EXL executive Vivek Jetley as his successor in a move that hands the leadership of the IT services company to an outsider.
Jetley previously headed a $1.4 billion business at EXL, overseeing its insurance, healthcare and life sciences segments. He had been with EXL for two decades, having joined the New York-headquartered business process outsourcing (BPO) firm in 2006.
Jetley was appointed CEO for a four-year term after Hexaware’s 11-member board approved Srikrishna’s resignation on Wednesday, choosing an external successor in an 18-minute meeting, according to a company statement.
“Vivek brings a proven ability to scale businesses, deepen enterprise relationships and build Data and AI-led growth platforms. As a major shareholder in Hexaware, Carlyle is excited to support Vivek as he steps into this role, and thanks Keech for his contributions to Hexaware over the past 12 years,” said Sandra Horbach, Hexaware board member and chair of Americas Corporate Private Equity at Carlyle, in the statement. Pennsylvania-based private equity firm Carlyle owns 74.3% of Hexaware.
Srikrishna’s legacy
Srikrishna, 56, was among India’s longest-serving CEOs and oversaw Hexaware’s return to the stock exchanges in February last year. He will remain with the company as a senior advisor and is expected to hand over the reins to Jetley on 28 October 2026.
Jetley becomes the company’s fourth chief executive after Rusi Brij, P.R. Chandrasekar, and Srikrishna, who took charge in 2004, 2008, and 2014, respectively.
Srikrishna’s current five-year term was set to end on 1 March 2028. His departure comes 14 months before the end of his tenure.
“Serving in this role has been one of the most fulfilling chapters of my professional life, and I am deeply grateful for the trust placed in me by the Board, our shareholders, and the broader Hexaware family. During my tenure, I have had the privilege of witnessing and contributing to a meaningful transformation of the company, both in terms of financial performance and the positive impact we have had on our associates, clients, and partners,” Srikrishna said in his resignation letter.
Under Srikrishna, Hexaware became the country’s newest-listed tech services firm and joined the billion-dollar club when it returned to the stock exchanges in February last year.
The company’s stock settled 1.3% lower at ₹545.00 on the BSE on Wednesday.
Growth remains a sore spot
The company, which follows a January-December fiscal calendar as against Indian IT’s April-March, ended last year with $1.54 billion in revenue, up 7.6% on a yearly basis. It reported the third-fastest growth amongst the 13 tech services firms getting more than a billion dollars in annual revenue. It lagged Coforge Ltd and Persistent Systems Ltd, which grew at 29.2% and 17.4%, respectively.
On the other hand, its operating margin rose 80 basis points from a year earlier to 14.4%. Only Mphasis fared worse, with its margin unchanged at 15.3%.
Under Srikrishna, growth was still a sore spot as the company grew at a compounded quarterly rate of 1.76% between March 2025 and July 2026. This was lower than peers Coforge, Mphasis, and Persistent Systems, which grew 7.62%, 1.82%, and 3.81% during this time, respectively. Mint has taken March 2025 as its starting point because the company listed in February that year.
This slow growth comes against the backdrop of challenges from two of its five largest accounts including Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which together made up about $150 million of its revenue as of June last year.
Srikrishna’s final initiative was the introduction of a service offering called Zero License, which would allow clients to use software developed by Hexaware’s AI teams and host it on their own servers. This would help them avoid software licensing costs paid to companies such as Microsoft and Google.
At least one brokerage gave this move a thumbs-up.
“We believe HEXT (Hexaware) is offering something genuinely differentiated here and will track deal wins/revenue conversion as the key monitorable. The February-era – ‘all SaaS is worthless’ – narrative has ebbed, but per-seat SaaS replacement in these pockets remains a credible, long-term opportunity,” said Motilal Oswal Financial Services analysts Abhishek Pathak, Keval Bhagat, and Suket Kothari, in a note dated 23 August.
However, shareholders have not been all that pleased as the company’s stock is down 28.72% since the start of the calendar year, which is the worst amongst peers. While Coforge’s shares were up 18%, Mphasis and Persistent Systems’ shares were down about 11% and 9%, respectively.
IT leadership shift
For now, the change of guard at Hexaware underscores a broader trend at two of its peers in India’s billion-dollar IT club.
Sonata Software Ltd appointed former chief delivery officer, Rajsekhar Datta Roy, as its chief executive on 9 May for three years, replacing Samir Dhir, who left after the end of his term.
A little more than two months later, India’s second-largest IT services firm Infosys Ltd appointed Ashiss Kumar Dash as its CEO-designate on 23 July. He is expected to take over from Salil Parekh on 1 April 2027, when Parekh’s second term ends after more than nine years at the helm.
While Roy and Dash are insiders who have been in their company for more than two decades, Jetley is an external hire.