Mohandas Pai, Infosys board director and K Dinesh co-founder resign
Friday, 15 April 2011, 19:54 IST   |    2 Comments
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Bangalore: Infosys co-founder K Dinesh and board director TV Mohandas Pai have resigned from the IT bellwether in pursuit of their future endeavours, the company said today. "Dinesh, who will retire by rotation at the company's annual general meeting (AGM) to be held on June 11, has expressed his intention not to seek re-appointment," the company said in a statement here. Pai has also decided to relinquish the position of member of the board and has requested the board to relieve him of the responsibilities after the AGM. Pai said that it was important for young leaders to take over and was contemplating to quit for a long time. Infosys' board of directors will meet on April 30 to finalise plans for the company's leadership as chairman NR Narayan Murthy retires in August 2011. Former Microsoft India head, Ravi Venkatesan was appointed as additional director on the board. In the middle of its biggest management transition ever since Infosys was founded, the company is aiming for a larger share of revenue from retail, banking and healthcare customers by shifting the roles of leaders handling multiple business units. Pai had been in a finance role as Chief Financial Officer of Infosys since 1994, and later took responsibility for the critical functions of human resources and education. He is also a well-known public face and has been part of various committees such as the Kelkar committee for reforming direct taxes and is currently on the SEBI board. Pai was with Bangalore-based transport firm Prakash Roadlines before he was reportedly picked up by Narayana Murthy to join Infosys in 1994. More recently, Pai was criticised for iRace, a human resources initiative, which resulted in around 4,000-4,500 employee demotions. It de-moralised employees and the move backfired on Infosys when demand for IT services returned in October 2010. Infosys Technologies , India's second-largest software services exporter, missed market expectations despite a 13.7 percent rise in quarterly profit, hurt by higher expenses in a seasonally weak quarter. Kicking off the results for the nearly $60 billion Indian outsourcing sector, Infosys reported net profit of Rs 1,820 crore ($408.5 million), up from Rs 1,600 crore a year ago. K K Mital, Head of Portfolio Management at Globe Capital, says: "Guidance especially was not upto expectations. I am hopeful they will revise guidance later in the year and that it will improve. Also, some announcements like the resignation of Mohandas Pai is not perceived well in the market. Management clarification on guidance and board members will give some moral boost to investors." The challenge of tackling the changes taking place in the IT sector has also led to a management overhaul at Wipro, which recently disbanded its joint CEO model and named TK Kurien as the new CEO. Wipro said this move would help it create a leaner, swifter organisation. Along with changing the head of its healthcare vertical, the company has also seen the exit of the head of its media and telecom division.
Source: IANS
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