Infosys president BG Srinivas resigns

28 May 2014

B G Srinivas, the newly-appointed president of Infosys, has resigned from the company, jeopardising the turnaround strategy initiated by executive chairman N R Narayana Murthy.

The exit of Srinivas, who was widely seen as the front-runner for the CEO's post, may signal the possibility of return of co-founder Nandan Nilekani.

Srinivas, the 10th in a high-level executives to quit Infosys in recent times, was also the most-favored for the position of CEO within and the company had announced this decision to the stock exchanges.

The resignation of Srinivas, who held key portfolios, including financial services, manufacturing and public services, will be effective 10 June.

The Bangalore-based IT bellwether has so far lost 10 top-level executive since the return of co-founder NR Narayana Murthy at the helm of affairs in June last year.

Srinivas and U B Pravin Rao, both presidents and board members, were considered to be among the top contenders for the job of CEO when S D Shibhulal retires on 9 January 2015.

Srinivas, who joined Infosys in 1999, was elevated to the post of President earlier this year in January.

"The board of directors placed on record their deep sense of appreciation for the services rendered by BG Srinivas during his tenure as member of the board and for his contribution to the company," Infosys stated in a release.

Another contender for the CEO's job, V Balakrishnan, its former CFO and Lodestone Head, had quit in December last year to pursue a career in politics.

In March this year, Infosys operations head (India business unit) Chandrashekar Kakal resigned to join L&T Infotech as COO.

Infosys global sales head Basab Pradhan quit in July 2013 and its global manufacturing head Ashok Vemuri resigned in August to join rival iGate as CEO. Stephen Pratt, who co-founded Infosys Consulting, quit in November 2013.

Other exits include Infosys Australia Head BPO Sales Kartik Jayaraman, BPO Head Latin America Humberto Andrade and Financial Services Head Americas Sudhir Chaturvedi.