We have leadership to handle management transition: Infosys

"We have leadership required to handle transition. We have had transitions in the past...so these things are part and parcel of growth of corporations," Infosys CEO S Gopalakrishnan told reporters here talking about TV Mohandas Pai and K Dinesh's decision to step down from the Board.

In a surprise development, T V Mohandas Pai today resigned from Infosys and its Board of Directors, ending a 17-year association with the company.

The company also announced that K Dinesh, member of its Board and a co-founder, would retire by rotation at the Annual General Meeting to be held on June 11. Dinesh would not seek reappointment, it said.

Moreover, N R Narayana Murthy, chief mentor of the country's second largest IT firm, is scheduled to retire in August this year.

Gopalakrishnan further said: "I want to re-assure everybody that our goal is to provide the continuity required for Infosys and providing services to clients and a platform for our employees, to make sure that they learn, they have the right environment, they can excel and grow. We have confidence in leadership of the company. There are significant number of leaders in the company."

"You have to think about corporations living much longer than individuals. We have always believed that success of corporation is measured by its longevity, that means it has go much beyond individuals," he added.

The announcement comes on a day when Infosys reported a lower-than-expected consolidated net profit of Rs 1,818 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2011, a nearly 14 per cent jump from the same period last year.

Pai is the second top executive in Infosys to leave the organisation in two years after Nandan Nilekani, one of its founders, quit to join government to implement the ambitious project that will give identification number to each citizen.

Gopalakrishnan said that while Pai wanted to work on a "bigger canvas", for Dinesh, health concerns was the reason to step down.

On filling vacancies, he said, "We have a meeting coming on April 30, when announcements will happen. I cannot comment on those things today. You will have to wait."

"We will look at what is required from the Board's side and make the right decision," he added.

Pai said, "Infosys is at a different stage of growth. We require new set of leaders in Infosys who could take the company to greater heights.. We want them to have their right to stand in the sun."

Tracing his career growth, he described how he saw the industry and the company grow to great heights.

Talking about his growth in Infosys and his 30-year-old journey in the company Dinesh said that Murthy and colleagues taught him to "dream big".

"Infosys is in safe hands" led by able leadership, he said, adding that the company would achieve greater heights under the new leadership.