Infosys Appoints Salil Parekh As CEO

Information technology bellwether Infosys Ltd. has appointed Salil S. Parekh as its new chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director, nearly four months after former chief Vishal Sikka stepped down.

Parekh has been appointed for five years and will take over on January 2, 2018, the company said in a media statement. UB Pravin Rao, who had been appointed as interim CEO, will be the company’s chief operating officer and whole time director, the statement added.

"We are delighted to have Salil joining as the CEO and MD of Infosys," said Nandan Nilekani, chairman of the company. "He has a strong track record of executing business turnarounds and managing very successful acquisitions," Nilekani added.

TV Mohandas Pai, former chief financial officer of Infosys, said that since Parekh’s background is in IT services, “this should work out better for shareholders.”

The appointment of Parekh ends a near four month-long search to lead India's second largest software services company after Sikka’s resignation following the tussle with co-founder Narayana Murthy. The latter had questioned governance standards over severance pay to former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Rajiv Bansal and anonymous allegations of wrongdoing in the acquisition of Israeli firm Panaya during Sikka’s term. Murthy had criticised Sikka for not making the investigation reports on the Panaya acquisition public.

Sikka, in his resignation letter, had said that the "false, baseless, malicious and increasingly personal attacks" triggered his resignation. Following Sikka’s resignation, co-founder Nandan Nilekani returned to chair the company in August.
In an emailed statement after Infosys announced Parekh as the new CEO, Murthy said: “I am happy that Infosys has appointed Mr. Salil Parekh as the CEO. My best wishes to him.”

The new chief will now be tasked with steering Infosys through the changes that the Indian IT industry is trying to maneuver . The company has already slashed its sales growth forecast for the current year to 6.5 percent from 7.5 percent earlier. This came amidst challenges including a threat of visa curbs in the U.S., slower client spending in verticals like banking and financial services, and increasing competition.

Infosys, like others, is also trying to adapt to newer technologies like cloud computing, automation and digital services. The Infosys stock has declined 5.13 percent in 2017.