Monday 22 August 2011

NR Narayana Murthy's last day as Infosys Chairman


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.


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"