Infosys topguns Mohandas Pai,Dinesh exit board,say no discord

Pai,52,an outspoken,dynamic,relentless pursuer of Infosys and national causes,even tipped to be a CEO at one point,cited an effort to make way at the top for a younger crop of Infosys leaders among the reasons for the exit. Dinesh,who is nearing 60,however,cited personal health reasons.

Currently,Pai holds the position of Member of the Board of Directors,and Head – Administration,Education and Research,Human Resource,while Dinesh is Director and Head,Communication Design Group,Information Systems and Quality and Productivity.

Pai,Dinesh and the Infosys management led by CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan took pains to explain the lack of any discordant note in the exits though there were suggestions from among company employees about a lack of compatibility with COO and another board member S D Shibulal — tipped to rise to CEO when a succession plan is put in place for the exit of board chairman N R Narayana Murthy.

Murthy is scheduled to step down from the board on August 20 when he turns 65 and a board meeting is scheduled on April 30 to decide on this. “The meeting on April 30 is focused on succession planning for Murthy and how to fill various positions related to that. I can’t say more,’’ CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan said on Friday.

As things stand,COO Shibulal is expected to be the last of the founders of the company to be CEO — following Murthy,Nandan Nilekani and Kris Gopalakrishnan. Kris is expected to step aside to play a non-executive role to allow his colleague of the same age to have a shot before they turn 60 — the age defined by the company for relinquishing executive positions.

There is a whole lot of young leaders in the age group of 40s — B G Srinivas,Ashok Venuri,Subhash Dhar — waiting in the wings to be the next generation leaders of the company.

“I have stepped down because I truly believe we are at a different stage of growth,Infosys 3.0 requires a new set of leaders — people who will take it to greater heights,’’ Pai said while announcing his move.

“This is not a sudden decision for me. I started thinking about it one year ago. Then I spoke to Narayana Murthy nine months ago. He persuaded me to stay on but I feel its best that I step down. He asked me if I had aspirations of being the CEO and I said no,’’ he added.

“Just to set the record there is no discord — this is all discussed among all of us — we work together as a single team. We are a company where leaders have stepped down to let others come up and do better. Murthy stepped down and Nandan became CEO,Kris was asked to be CEO and he stepped aside and allowed Nandan. I stepped aside and enabled Bala (V Balakrishnan) to be CFO,’’ Pai said.

The Infosys CEO also said there was no discord in the board but agreed that there is a relationship between the exits (of Murthy and others). “There is need to make way for future leadership in the company — these are events that have happened almost together and will continue,” he said.

Pai has over the years enjoyed a very close relationship with the Infosys board — Murthy and Nilekani in particular. While Murthy has been described as a father figure by Pai,it was Nilekani who treated him to a meal of mutton pepper fry and prawns to woo him to join Infosys in 1994.

After his exit Pai has hinted at following Nandan — currently the Unique Identification Authority chairman — into development and government-related work but in the education field.

“I am not joining politics. A substantial portion of my time will be spent in public service working with governments on education policy,helping to set up universities for various people,being on boards of universities. I think higher education is the most important thing for India in the next 20 years and we have to work together to reform the sector,” he said.

Links would be maintained with the corporate world by joining “a couple of boards that will have a systemic influence on India”,Pai said.

“I have seen the rise of Infosys from a 500 person,10 million dollar company to a 6 billion dollar company with 130,000 people and a 40 billion dollar value. That is my satisfaction,’’ Pai said.

“I like to speak my mind,I am independent,I have no respect for hierarchy — some people don’t like me because I don’t respect hierarchy,” he added.