.jpg;140;54){kind=logo}
There's been something akin to a palace coup at Bangalore-headquartered offshore services major, Infosys. The board has (re)installed revered founding leader and current Chairman Emeritus NR Narayana Murthy as executive chairman. Murthy has in turn has appointed his son, Dr. Rohan Murty as 'executive assistant'. Infosys was once seen as the 'gold standard' for the Indian IT services sector until a series of missteps and results 'misses' (see Infosys limbos under the bar and work back) saw it lose its coveted second-ranking spot to New Jersey headquartered (but otherwise India-centric) Cognizant.
Current Infosys chairman KV Kamath will step back to a non-executive director role from which he originally ascended as the first 'outsider' to take the chair at Infosys in August 2011 (see More top team musical chairs at Infosys). Co-executive chairman S ('Kris') Goplalakrishnan (co-founder and a prior CEO) becomes Executive Vice-Chairman, while Infosys' current – and clearly beleaguered – CEO (and also co-founder), SD Shibulal – retains his CEO and MD titles.
One assumes the board are hoping that bringing back Murthy – seen as the godfather of the Indian IT services industry – will be more akin to the resurrection of Apple after the late Steve Jobs was brought back to the helm, than the return of the too late Michael Dell to run the eponymous – and soon to be sold – PC company (see Dell board looks back for its future).
This is not a good move. Firstly, as we have pointed out before (and see the latest edition of OffshoreViews) Infosys' 'problem' was its desire to see each of its key founders take on the CEO role. Starting the cycle again is only prolonging the agony, however great Murthy is (and he is!). Secondly, bringing on his son as de facto vice chairman (though not in name), shrouds Infosys in the same cloak of dynastic succession as with Azim Premji and son Rishad at Wipro (see Don’t call me Mr Premji (yet)). It's not a good look!
Doubtless some investors (and many employees) will be relieved to see Murthy back in charge. But to think that he can restore Infosys to its past glory days is simply not realistic.