N.R. Narayana Murthy bids adieu, once again.
By The American Bazaar Staff
BANGALORE: As Infosys executive N.R. Narayana Murthy bids adieu to his role at the helm of the Indian IT giant – once again, he gave his view of the company’s current state while also announcing, and justifying, several key administrative appointments.
During his farewell speech at the company’s 33rd Annual General Meeting (AGM), Murthy said that he was disappointed that Infosys had strayed from its initial goals and values, at least in his eyes. Murthy said that as he leaves the company, he hopes its leaders will steer the corporation back to the ideals of “fairness, transparency, meritocracy, accountability and leadership by example.â€
Murthy said that the company has currently “diluted†its stance on those principals, and implied that the company’s only hope of staying prosperous in the future was to return to those core values. Infosys may do wisely to heed that advice, as the company is coming off of some particularly difficult times of late.
Murthy’s exit is one of several high-profile departures the company has faced recently, including that of Ashok Vemuri last year. The company was also fined $35 million by the US government to settle allegations of visa fraud and abuse. But on Monday, its new executive team took its place at the top of the company, ready to steer it in a better direction.
Rohan Murthy, the outgoing executive’s son, will be taking over for his father. Narayana Murthy said that this was because of trust, as he needs someone he could rely on to lead the company, as well as someone who had the intelligence and business savvy to keep the company competitive in the highly saturated IT marketplace.
Other executive changes were made, as well.
Sandeep Dadlani has become the company’s new head of Americas, a significant promotion from his previous position as the company’s worldwide head of retail, Consumer Packaged Goods, and logistics. Dadlani is replacing another of Infosys’ recent high-profile departures: Prasad Thrikutam.
Thrikutam left Infosys to head up Dell’s application services. The part of the company that Dadlani now oversees accounts for about 20% of the company’s total revenues, as Infosys’ interests in the Americas, particularly the US and Canada, have grown astronomically in the last 10-15 years.