Saturday marked a major shift at Infosys, India’s second largest software services exporter, when it announced that founder-chairman NR Narayana Murthy would pass the baton on to KV Kamath, a veteran banker.
Kamath, 63, a board member, assumes charge as non-executive chairman and will be the first non-founder to head the IT giant in its 20-year history.
Leadership roles changed for company’s two key executives as well. SD Shibulal, 56, a founder of the company and chief operating officer, will be the chief executive in place of 51-year-old S. Gopalakrishnan, who will be the company’s executive co-chairman. A COO has not been named.
“A perfect team to strengthen customer, investor and employee connect on the one hand and world-class board governance on the other hand,” said an emotional Murthy at a press conference in Bangalore, introducing the team.
The appointments come into effect August 21, a day after Murthy retires at 65. He will, however, continue as the chairman emeritus. Kamath, too, will remain the non-executive chairman at the ICICI Bank.
Infosys lately has struggled to keep pace with competitors such as TCS and HCL Technologies. Its quarterly earnings, announced a fortnight ago, fell short of market expectations.
{{/usCountry}}Infosys lately has struggled to keep pace with competitors such as TCS and HCL Technologies. Its quarterly earnings, announced a fortnight ago, fell short of market expectations.
{{/usCountry}}Renaming company
Infosys Technologies will be renamed Infosys Ltd. “We felt that the brand Infosys is so strong that we would like to rename the company as Infosys Ltd,” S Gopalakrishnan said. “It’s part of our 3.0 vision...”
Agency inputs