Happy with Parekh appointment as Infosys CEO, says Murthy

Updated - December 07, 2021 at 01:24 AM.

FILE- In this June 15, 2013 file photo, N. R. Narayana Murthy, Executive Chairman of Indian tech giant Infosys, reacts to a shareholders comment during the company's 32th Annual General Meeting in Bangalore, India. Speculation about tougher rules on so-called H-1B visas, used heavily by India’s massive technology and outsourcing industries to send programmers and other computer specialists to the United States, sent tech stocks tumbling in India early February, 2017, and compounded concerns about the protectionist direction of U.S. policy after President Donald Trump temporarily suspended immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. Murthy cautioned that the Indian software industry’s role in building and maintaining the information infrastructure of major U.S. corporations is critical to their success. “Tampering with it is not going to be easy," he said. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi, File)

Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy today expressed satisfaction at the appointment of Salil S Parekh as the new CEO and MD of the company.

He welcomed Parekh’s appointment and wished him well for the new role.

Murthy had a protracted stand off with the previous Infosys management over issues of corporate governance and compensation to former executives, leading to the abrupt resignation of the then CEO, Vishal Sikka.

“I am happy that Infosys has appointed Salil Parekh as the CEO. My best wishes to him,” Murthy said in a brief statement.

He, however, did not answer detailed queries on the development.

Infosys today appointed Parekh as its CEO and Managing Director, concluding the 3-month high-profile executive search at the country’s second largest IT firm.

UB Pravin Rao, who was filling in the CEO role on interim basis, will now continue as Chief Operating Officer and a whole-time Director of the company, Infosys has said in a statement.

Parekh, who will take over on January 2, 2018 for a period of five years, was a member of the Group Executive Board at French firm Capgemini.

This is the second time Infosys is bringing in an outsider for the top job.

Sikka, who was brought in from SAP in 2014, was the first non-founder CEO at the over $ 10 billion company.

In August this year, he resigned from the company following months of acrimony with high-profile founders, led Murthy, citing “malicious” and “personal attacks” on him.

Nandan Nilekani, one of the co-founders of Infosys, was brought in as Non-executive Chairman to restore order at the embattled company.

Published on December 2, 2017 15:42