Mphasis taps Sawhney to drive non-HP business

Were there any clearer sign (and there have been a few – see Mphasis declares itself to be Indian et al) that Mphasis, the ‘renegade’ offshore services business 60% owned by HP, wants to break free from the shackles of its parent, is the appointment of ex-HCL veteran Rajeev Sawhney as President - Strategic Business “to accelerate the pace of transformational growth of MphasiS’ direct (i.e. non-HP) business”.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Sawhney for many years - we first met back in my days on the ‘dark side’ in equities research when he was running HCL’s European operations. This is a bit of a coup for Mphasis and it will be particulalry interesting to see if it signals a new push by the company to expand its ‘direct’ business in Europe.