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Infosys Appoints Salil Parekh As CEO, Months After Sikka Resigned

Parekh was previously with Capgemini and was a member of the group executive board.

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Information technology bellwether Infosys Ltd has appointed Salil S Parekh as its new chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director, nearly four months after a boardroom coup by co-founder Narayana Murthy saw former chief Vishal Sikka stepping down.

Parekh has been appointed for five years and will take over on 2 January 2018, the company said in a media statement. UB Pravin Rao, who had been appointed as interim CEO, will be the company’s chief operating officer and whole time director, the statement added.

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"We are delighted to have Salil joining as the CEO and MD of Infosys," said Nandan Nilekani, chairman of the company. "He has a strong track record of executing business turnarounds and managing very successful acquisitions," Nilekani added.

The board believes that he is the right person to lead Infosys at this transformative time in our industry. The board is also grateful to Pravin for his leadership during this period of transition.
Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Infosys

Parekh was previously with Capgemini and was a member of the group executive board. He joined Capgemini in 2000 following the acquisition of the consulting division of Ernst and Young.

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The appointment is "positive from multiple perspectives," according to R Chandrasekhar, president of NASSCOM, the IT trade association of the country. "He is well known in the industry so he is well rooted here," Chandrasekhar told BloombergQuint in a telephonic interaction.

He also has multinational experience and global exposure. That’s another factor that would put Infosys in good stead. This brings the curtain down on various issues which rose when Vishal Sikka left Infosys and there were many questions as to what would be the roadmap ahead. Infosys needs to be complimented on having settled the issue and bringing it to a swift closure.
R Chandrasekhar, President, NASSCOM
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Parekh has been heading application services for Capgemini globally and therefore the task ahead is something he is familiar with, Chandrasekhar added.

Parekh was previously with Capgemini and was a member of the group executive board.

The appointment of Parekh ends a near four-month-long search to lead India's second largest software services company after Sikka’s resignation following the tussle with Murthy.

The latter had questioned governance standards over severance pay to former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Rajiv Bansal and anonymous allegations of wrongdoing in the acquisition of Israeli firm Panaya during Sikka’s term. Murthy had criticised Sikka for not making the investigation reports public.

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Sikka, in his resignation letter, had said that the “false, baseless, malicious and increasingly personal attacks” triggered his resignation. Following Sikka’s resignation, co-founder Nandan Nilekani returned to chair the company in August.

Parekh will now be tasked with steering Infosys through the changes that the Indian IT industry is trying to maneuvre. The company has already slashed its sales growth forecast for the current year to 6.5 percent from 7.5 percent earlier.

This came amidst challenges including a threat of visa curbs in the US, slower client spending in verticals like banking and financial services, and increasing competition. Infosys, like others, is also trying to adapt to newer technologies like cloud computing and digital services.

The Infosys stock has declined 5.13 percent in 2017.

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(This piece originally published in arrangement with BloombergQuint).

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Topics:  Infosys 

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