Infosys has become conservative: Mohandas Pai
Mangalore Today News Network
April 19: He was the biggest name to resign from Infosys after Nandan Nilekani quit two years ago. And as TV Mohandas Pai’s resignation was announced on Friday, he gave no reason for quitting. Now, Pai has hit out at the founders of the company saying Infosys has lost its unique position because they’ve been conservative. And that he would have chosen a CEO for the company very differently.
Pai reportedly quit because of the company’s inability to offer him the top job. Today, in an exclusive interview, he conceded that he was unhappy with the succession process that the company had undertaken. "When you choose a CEO, you should have a very transparent process and you choose the best person for the job whatever it is," Pai said, adding, “In corporate India, the whole idea of CEO succession requires more transparency."
Infosys, he said, had lost three generation of leaders and it should not lose another generation. “If left to me I would have drawn a list of people and I would have interviewed them and invited them to come and present to the board what their vision for the future is and I would have looked at their capability and decided for the next 5-10 years who are the people we should back and what they are going to do,” he said.
"In 17 years, we have lost 3 generation of leaders. We should not lose the next generation too because they may feel they may not get a shot at sitting at the seat," Pai added.
The Infosys board will meet on April 30 to finalise its leadership succession plans after the board chairman Narayana Murthy retires in August this year.
Criticising what he called the “conservatism" of the founders, Pai said, "We have seen in the last three years competition overtake us in some areas. We have seen the unique position that we have decline. We have seen conservatism in the corporation”. He did say though that “it is human nature for Infy founders to defend the value that they have created," and he praised the founders that include current chairman NR Narayana Murthy and former CEO Nandan Nilekani, who left the company to head the Unique Identity Authority (UID) saying, "We should never undermine the role of founders in the corporation. They are wonderful people."
Pai had resigned as Director Incharge of the Human Resource Department and also from the Infosys board on Friday. His exit, after 17 years with Infosys, came as a huge surprise to the markets.
He served as a member of the board since May 2000 and was the Chief Financial Officer from 1994 to 2006 and has been one of the most visible faces of the company over the years.
Over the years, Infosys has been a favourite of investors because of its ability to beat its own guidance and outsmart its peers like Tata Consultancy Services, India’s biggest IT exporter, in terms of margins. Since Pai’s resignation, Infosys stocks have fallen more than 10 per cent and the stock is now trading below its long term average (200 DMA) which is a sign of bearishness.