Infosys BPO head V Balakrishnan resigns

The trickle is turning into a flood. Infosys India business unit Chairman and head of its BPO division V Balakrishnan resigned on Friday after spending more than two decades in the company.

His exit comes barely a month after he sold one lakh shares of Infosys on behalf on his two minor daughters.

“I have enjoyed every moment of my stint at Infosys and it was a great learning experience. While my heart will always be with Infosys my mind wants to do something beyond Infosys,” Balakrishnan said.

“V Balakrishnan has conveyed his intention to resign as a member of the board and from the services of the company. The resignation is effective December 31, 2013,” Infosys said in statement on Friday.

Balakrishnan's resignation comes a day after Infosys Labs Senior Vice-President Subrahmanyam Goparaju announced his decision to leave the company.

Infosys Executive Chairman N R Narayana Murthy said, “Bala has been an early adopter and a keen anchor-builder of Infosys. It is difficult to imagine Infosys without Bala’s passion, commitment, and intellect. The board and every Infoscion thanks Bala for his wonderful contribution and wish him great success in his future endeavours.”

Balakrishnan had joined Infosys in 1991 and served in various capacities in the Infosys Finance organisation.

Prior to being appointed a member of the board, Balakrishnan served as chief financial officer (CFO) and also played a key role in formulating the company's Indian IPO in 1993 as well as the company’s first overseas listing in 1999. In October last year, he stepped down from his earlier role of Chief Financial Officer to head the company's BPO and Finacle businesses.

In November this year, Balakrishnan had sold the 50,000 shares each held by his daughters Sneha and Sweta Balakrishnan for Rs 33 crore.

He was understood to be among the contenders for the post of CEO at Infosys after the term of current incumbent and co-founder S D Shibulal ends next year.

“We believe that exit of Balakrishnan will not make any material impact at a business level as he was not heading a very big chunk of the company’s revenues but the development does indicate that there is a severe management transition happening in the company,” Angel Broking analyst Ankita Somani said.

Somani added that though the top management resignations at Infosys in recent months would not have an immediate impact on the topline of Infosys, it may have some effect over the medium term. However, senior level exits remain a concern for the company.

Infosys global sales head Basab Pradhan quit in July, while its global manufacturing head Ashok Vemuri resigned in August to join rival iGate as CEO. Stephen Pratt, who co-founded Infosys Consulting stepped down last month.

In September, Infosys Head of BPO sales in Australia Kartik Jayaraman and BPO Head Latin America Humberto Andrade had quit the company. A month earlier, its Vice-President and Financial Services Head for the Americas Sudhir Chaturvedi quit.

In another move, the Nominations and Governance Committee of the company recommended the induction of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw as an independent member of the board.

The committee has also recommended the induction of U B Pravin Rao as a Whole-time Director of the Company. Rao is currently a member of the executive council, senior vice-president and global head-retail, consumer packaged goods, logistics and life sciences.