The Hindu Business Line : iGATE’s Chief Delivery Officer Sekhar resigns

Mr Phaneesh Murthy, CEO, iGATE, told Business Line, “He has made significant contributions to the delivery function. He came on board with a four-year perspective of helping iGATE in its transformation effort.”

The company is planning to delist its shares from the Indian stock exchanges, for which an open offer exercise, at Rs 410 a share, was recently completed. The parent, iGATE Corporation would continue to be listed on the NASDAQ in the US.

Cultural change

In this context, Mr Murthy added, “With the delisting, we are now evolving the culture a little differently. I want to build an organisation that is more risk-taking and has the ability to innovate. This would lead to more aggressive successes over time.”

A statement from the company said that Mr Sean Narayanan will take over as Head of IT Services Delivery. “Mr Narayanan has over 17 years experience in IT and management consulting both in the US and India. He has been with iGATE for over a year as Senior Vice-President. Prior to joining iGATE, Mr Sean was Vice-President and Global Practice Head of IT Infrastructure Services at Cognizant,” it said.

Logical end

Mr Sekhar told Business Line that four years is a good time to have spent in an organisation and move on. He said: “This is the logical end for me at iGATE. With the delisting, I am not sure what changes would occur in the company. There would be a cultural shift. It won’t be an India-listed company any more. To me that is important, to be listed here and to have an India brand.”

Asked if he has another assignment on hand or if he is considering entrepreneurship, he said: “It’s too early to say. I want to spend time with my two children, aged 14 and 10. Then, I want to go around and meet people before I decide.”

Commenting on the goals he had set for himself in 2003, he said: “I have met my goals. Our offshore-onsite ratio used to be 60:40. Now, only 25 per cent is onsite. Margins have hence improved. When I came in, iGATE was a quasi-staffing company. Now, we do more high value work, thanks to the iTops model. Our utilisation rates were between 60 and 65 per cent. Now it’s anywhere between 75 and 80 per cent, depending on the quarter.”