BANGALORE: Having successfully steered Infosys to a place among
the top IT companies of the world in the short span of 20 years, N R
Narayana Murthy will step down as Chairman of the company on
Friday 19th aug 2011 , albeit with firm indications that he will
continue to guide the
organisation.
Murthy will hand over his role to K V Kamath, who has been an
independent director on the Infosys board since May, 2009.
S D Sibulal will take over as the new CEO and MD and
S Gopalakrishnan
will be Executive Co-Chairman of Infosys. Kris Gopalakrishnan, the
current CEO of Infosys, who is also a co-founder, has been elevated as
the Executive Co-Chairman.
Bangalore in the evening, which will be attended by all seven
co-founders and prominent former employees, including T V
Mohandas Pai and Phaneesh Murthy and Murthy's family.
Murthy's exit as the chairman will mark the end of a formal
association with the company, but he will continue to guide
the organisation in the capacity of Chairman Emeritus.
"I would be called Chairman Emeritus. I will have a room
which I can use if I want... but as propriety demands, I will
have no say in any matter, I will not be allowed to attend any
board meetings or any meetings. I can meet anybody
personally," Murthy had said earlier.
Infosys will host a farewell for Murthy at its campus in Bangalore in the evening, which will be attended by all seven
co-founders and prominent former employees, including T V
Mohandas Pai and Phaneesh Murthy and Murthy's family.
Murthy co-founded Infosys in 1981 in Pune with six other
engineers and created thousands of millionaires courtesy its
stock option schemes.
Infosys started its operations in a 10x10 room with a capital
investment of just Rs 10,000, which was borrowed from
Murthy's wife, Sudha Murthy. Now, its revenues have grown
to Rs 27,000 crore.
Murthy served as the founder CEO of Infosys for 21 years
and was succeeded by co-founder Nandan Nilekani in March,
2002.
Born on August 20, 1946, in Karnataka, Murthy obtained his
engineering degree (BE) from the University of Mysore in
1967. He then attended the Indian Institute of Technology
(IIT, Kanpur) for his master's degree (M Tech) in 1969.
Murthy's vision and business sense made the company go
from strength to strength. In 1993, Infosys got listed in the
Indian markets and later became the first Indian company to
be listed on the New York-based NASDAQ in 1999.
In a testimony to Murthy's impact on the economy, Time
magazine had named him among the Indians who are leading
the country into its "next six decades"
