The Billion Dollar Leader: Sudhir Singh, CEO, Coforge Over the last three decades, starting from his Sales and Marketing stint at Hindustan Lever, Singh believed that meeting people as one travels and reading extensively have been the best enablers of personal growth
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Sudhir's leadership style has been influenced by his childhood years spent living with his parents across Indian army cantonments and also by his first job after passing out of IIM Calcutta at Hindustan Lever. He firmly believes that while strategy is important what truly matters is execution. "Growing up in army cantonments, I've seen how leadership isn't just about giving orders but about being present and involved with the team in the trenches. The best officers were not just those who laid out the plans but those who actually then jumped in with their teams to deliver on the objectives. The primacy of execution over strategy was again drilled into me at Hindustan lever," states Singh.
Over the last three decades, starting from his Sales and Marketing stint at Hindustan Lever, Singh believed that meeting people as one travels and reading extensively have been the best enablers of personal growth. "Our industry is blessed with a very young employee profile and extensive interactions across countries with this set keeps me thoroughly exposed not just to new technologies but also to newer emerging work trends," says Singh.
Talking about his most memorable moment as a leader, Singh mentions, "My most memorable moment as a leader was when Coforge crossed the One Billion Dollar revenue mark in April 2023 - one year ahead of plans. Coforge had been one of the smallest mid-size firms in 2017 and yet to be one of the first to cross the One Billion Dollar revenue mark was memorable not just for me but for everyone in the Coforge team." The milestone was celebrated by gifting each one of the then 21,000 employees with an Apple i-pad.
One of the most difficult challenges Sudhir and team Coforge confronted was steering the firm through the turbulence of the pandemic. On the business front Coforge was particularly exposed because nearly 30% of its revenue came from airline and airport clients who were particularly stressed! The challenge was two fold: ensuring business continuity while also safeguarding the physical and mental health of Team Coforge.
Businesses were disrupted, and the firm had to pivot quickly to remote work, ensure confidentiality, reimagine the delivery to clients, and find ways to keep teams motivated and connected. It wasn't just about managing operations—it was about leading with empathy and decisiveness at a time when answers weren't always clear.
On the business front, Coforge took an important business decision. Alongside focusing on clients in BFS, Insurance and Travel, Coforge also reallocated resources to approach new sectors like Public Sector (outside US), healthcare, retail. The delivery model was revamped to include 16 specialized service lines, enabling the firm to exceed client expectations even in the most challenging circumstances.
FACT FILE
Age: 52
Year of joining the current organization: May 2017
Total team size: ~32,000
Turnover of the organization expected to exit FY 25 at: US $ 1.4 Billion
Total Market Capitalisation (INR Cr): 46,300
