Transition at Sonata: Rajsekhar Datta Roy is new CEO as Samir Dhar steps down

MUMBAI: Samir Dhir will step down as chief executive officer of Sonata Software Ltd, the company said on Saturday, marking the first leadership change at a major Indian IT services firm in more than a year.

Dhir, who took over as CEO in April 2022, will be replaced by Rajsekhar Datta Roy, the company’s chief delivery officer, for a period of three years. Dhir chose not to be reappointed to focus on personal priorities.

In his resignation letter dated April 25, Dhir said, “Considering my current personal priorities, I have decided not to re-nominate myself at the end of my term. Accordingly, I also submit my resignation from the position of Executive Director of the Company, effective from the end of working hours on May 8, 2026 (last working date).”

Sonata Software closed last year with $1.2 billion in revenue, up 15.46% year-on-year. Roy becomes the fourth CEO of the company after Sanjay Viswanathan, P Srikar Reddy and Dhir.

The last leadership change at an Indian IT services company with over $1 billion in annual revenue took place at LTIMindtree in early 2025 when Venu Lambu took over for a five-year term.

“This is clearly a pre-planned handover, not a conflict, which gives Roy a clearer runway. But it also raises expectations. When a board carries out such a smooth handover, it signals that they want faster, more decisive progress, not continuity for its own sake,” said Phil Fersht, CEO of HFS Research. “Roy is coming in to accelerate, not stabilize. The pressure will be to transform Sonata’s modernization and AI (artificial intelligence) narrative into consistent growth, stronger deal momentum and clearer differentiation in the crowded mid-market.”

For now, Sonata praised Roy for guiding the company into becoming an ‘AI-first’ organization.

“Over the past year, Raj has been instrumental in guiding Sonata Software’s evolution towards an AI-first organization. He has led efforts to advance the responsible AI approach and develop Sonata Harmoni.AI, the responsible-first AI solution for business process automation and technology modernization,” the company said in a late filing to the exchanges.

“He has also played a key role in improving operational margins over the last few quarters through focused execution and technology-driven efficiencies,” it said in the statement.

But a second expert noted the new CEO’s serious disruptions from AI.

“AI-driven disruption is the biggest challenge as well as customer-specific challenges starting in healthcare, BFSI and then the retail segment,” said Amit Chandra, vice president, HDFC Securities.

The rise of AI tools has posed a challenge for the IT industry; because these tools have the capacity to automate much of the human-led IT work done by domestic technology service providers.