TechnoparkToday.com – Techies News, Jobs, Events & Lifestyle! Technopark News Jobs & Lifestyle!
Veteran banker and former chairman of ICICI bank,Kundapur Vaman Kamath has been appointed the new Chairman of Infosys’ Board of Directors. He succeeds N R Narayana Murthy, who has been made Chairman Emeritus of Infosys for life.
The current CEO and Managing Director, S ‘Kris’ Gopalakrishnan, will be the co-chairman, while the Chief Operating Officer, S Dinesh Shibulal, will take over as CEO and MD. The name of Infosys Technologies has also been changed to Infosys Ltd to reflect the diverse nature of its business, from consulting to technology.
K V Kamath will take over his new responsibilities from August 21, a day after Murthy demits office upon attaining the age of 65. The board has also decided to increase the age of the chairman from 65 to 70, though the founders will retire at 65.
via keralait.org
No doubt under the leadership of Narayan Murthy, along with his founder colleagues, Infosys has grown to be a excellent company. Infosys, since its inception, has taken extraordinary efforts to create and maintain a high public image of the Company’s policy on ethics and transparency. In Narayana Murthy’s own words, policies of Infosys were, “transparency to investorsâ€, “not violate any law of the landâ€, “be in harmony with society†and “Humility and grace in one’s moments of powerâ€. To be fair, the management of Infosys has steadfastly stuck to its above policies so far, and hence it is no wonder that Infosys is known as the most respected Indian company.
But the recent announcement of KV Kamath as the new Chairman for Infosys has taken many by surprise. Kamath’s history is linked to ICICI Bank. Yes, it is among the earliest Banks to extensively implement information technology systems for better banking operations, tracking of their customers and improve its performance. It has become the largest private sector bank in India within a short span of 15 years.
Despite such an impressive background of its high degree of computerization of its operations and fast growth, ICICI Bank has let its policy on transparency and handlings of its debtors take a beating due to its coercive methods of collection. To recall some incidences, ICICI Bank was fined Rs.55 lakhs by Delhi Consumer Commission for hiring goons, Pune District Forum fined Rs.1 lakh, RBI warned it against coercive methods, the issue against ICICI Bank was raised in the Parliament also. ICICI Bank had to pay even a compensation of Rs.15.50 lakhs to a victim’s family as a man committed suicide due to harassment by recovery agents in Andheri.
Apparently above incidences indicate that the basic policy of ICIC Bank was to grow at any cost, unlike that of Infosys. Law of the land, harmony with society, humility etc., do not appear to be part of the policies of ICICI Bank.
During the recent global recession of 2008, even Infosys decided to shift its cash deposits from ICICI Bank to public sector banks due to perceived risk for its funds.
Under the new Chairman, what will happen to the policies of compliance with the law of the land, harmony with society, humility and grace in its glory, which were nurtured by Infosys till now? Has Infosys decided to change track in favour of growth as the top most priority at the cost of ethics?
Infosys had younger members of the board, founders as well as non-founders, who had long served Infosys and had the proven ability to perform over the years, keeping its basic policies intact. Then why an outsider, who is hardly 3 months younger to Narayana Murthy was preferred. In the process, Infosys has lost two of the most trusted and efficient Directors of the Board. What are the long term implications of these developments to the company? If Infosys is still sticking to its policy on transparency, it needs to come out with truth.