Infosys shifts HQ to B'luru - strategy change on cards under Nilekani?

Mumbai: Nandan Nilekani’s return to IT major Infosys’ helm, not only saw the company post 7 per cent leap in net profit in the September quarter, but also a shift in the company’s headquarters, raising speculations over a possible change in strategy.

Infosys’ “surprise profit” came on the back of former chief executive officer Vishal Sikka’s strategy that was a departure from the traditional one, to explore newer technologies like Cloud, AI, Big Data, automation, etc.

However, under founder Nilekani, the company is likely to have taken a detour from this practice, starting with the company’s headquarters being shifted from Palo Alto, where Sikka was based, to the company’s roots in Bengaluru. The Economic Times reported on Thursday said Pali Alto is now being described as a 'listening post'.

Nilekani a conference call said "We see Palo Alto office as a listening post to the latest developments in tech happening in Silicon Valley, in machine learning, AI, deep learning, virtual reality, automated reality, self-driving cars."

The Palo Alto office was considered to be the nerve centre of new technology and represented Sikka’s transformational strategy.

However, reports alleged that the move to shift headquarters was executed after an anonymous letter revealed that the company had incurred unreasonable expenses on account of Sikka's security, travel and the Palo Alto office.

A forensic audit conducted by Infosys and done by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, a global consultancy firm, found no evidence to this effect.

When Nilekani joined the company in August, there were hints that a strategy change may be on the cards. Under Nilekani, the company may recognise the potential of the traditional applications development which still brings in the majority of the company's business.