Bengaluru: In perhaps the most shocking exit from outsourcing giant Infosys, B.G. Srinivas, who was considered the front-runner to be the company’s CEO, has resigned, in a sign that the company’s troubles are more fundamental than thought earlier and chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy has perhaps made up his mind to hire a CEO from outside the company to fix it.
Mr Srinivas, the tenth top executive to quit Infosys in the year since Mr Murthy returned to it as chairman, had only in January been named one of two presidents of the company — the other being U.B. Pravin Rao — and was widely seen as the no-brainer choice to take over from outgoing CEO S.D. Shibulal. Before Srinivas, former CFO V. Balakrishnan and the company’s former North America head Ashok Vemuri were among those who were in the reckoning for CEO but quit.
The latest exit has led analysts to believe that Infosys is set to get an outsider as CEO, most likely a foreign executive who has stature and charisma. “They said months ago that Shibulal would quit early. Perhaps the board knew then who the successor would be”, one analyst as well as a former Infosys executive said, insinuating that the company may be going ahead with the CEO search process for the sake of form. Interestingly, though, one observer of the company said, “While there is a greater possibility now that the next CEO will come from outside the company, Pravin Rao just recently moved into the main building at Infosys headquarters, where CEO Shibulal sits, while vice chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan moved out of it”.
“Unfortunately, Srinivas’ exit means uncertainty will continue at Infosys. That’s bad for the company, its clients and its employees”, said Sudhin Apte, CEO of Pune-based Offshore Insights. “It also shows what a tricky environment Infosys’ power corridor is”. Mr Apte said Infosys needed “someone like Nandan Nilekani, who can open the boardrooms of global corporations to them. Cognizant seems to have such leaders, Infosys does not”. “Srinivas’ exit is shocking. It means Infosys will go through a very tough period, and recovery will take a long time”, said Bengaluru-based Zinnov Consulting’s Sunda-raraman Vishwanathan. “It’s almost certain that the next CEO will come from outside the company.”
