New CEO for Infosys soon, says Murthy

Narayana-Murthy.Bangalore, May 30 : India's second largest IT firm Infosys Ltd would soon name its new chief executive officer to succeed incumbent S. D. Shibulal as the selection process was in progress, executive chairman and co-founder N. R. Narayana Murthy said Friday.

"The selection process is progressing as planned and the nomination board will announce the new CEO at the conclusion of the process soon," Murthy told his employees in an e-mail.

Meanwhile, executive vice-chairman S. Gopalakrishnan and Shibulal will steer the $8.25-billion global software major with the company's board of directors.

The nominations board is headed by K. V. Kamath, an external director, who succeeded Murthy as co-chairman in August 2011 on the latter's retirement but resigned June 1, 2013, when Murthy returned to head the company again.

With Shibulal desiring to exit in January ahead of his retirement in March 2015, the company asked the nomination board Jan 11 to short-list and evaluate an internal slate of candidates with the assistance of Development Dimensions International (DDI), a company specialising in corporate executive evaluations.

The company's board also appointed Egon Zehnder, an executive search firm, to assist the committee in identifying an external list of candidates to succeed Shibulal.

Referring to the sudden exit of president and board member B. G. Srinivas, Murthy told the employees that the company would see some transition in leadership as it embarked onto newer horizon.

Srinivas was touted to be in contention for the new executive post at Infosys, as an internal candidate to succeed the incumbent.

"Be rest assured that the leadership changes take into account the best interests of the company as a whole. Srinivas has expressed his desire to pursuer interests outside Infosys. I hold him in high esteem and support his aspirations," Murthy said in the letter mailed to around 1.6 lakh employees working across the country and worldwide.

Though the company announced Srinivas was quitting Wednesday, his resignation will be effective June 10, four days ahead of its annual general meeting June 15 here.

In a bid to address concerns of the employees following the exit of about 10 senior executives during the last 12 months after his return, Murthy said the company remained focused on its mission and would continue to deliver on the commitments it made to its clients.

"I want to reassure you that Infosys remains focused on its mission. We will perform and grow as always. We will endeavour to earn the respect and retain the goodwill of our clients, employees and investors," he wrote.

"I am confident that we will be able to evolve with the changing times and succeed. I assure you all that the best of Infosys is yet to come," Murthy added.

Srinivas will July 14 join PCCW Ltd, a Hong Kong-based firm, with interests in telecom, media, IT solutions, property development and investment, following his appointment as its group managing director.(IANS)