Will Infosys have a non-Indian CEO?
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siliconindia | Tuesday, 01 March 2011, 12:25 IST

Bangalore: Infosys Technologies, IT outsourcing giant, is expected to have a non-Indian CEO in the next 2-3 years. Speculations are ripe about Steve Pratt, current CEO of Infosys consulting to become the next CEO.
It would be the first time in Infosys's history that non-founder or non-Indian will become the CEO if it so happens. According to a BNP Paribas report titled "Don't fix it if it isn't broken", there could be a possibility for such transition where Infosys can break its long term tradition of making the Chief Operating Officer as the Chief Executive Officer of the company.
Earlier news of S. Goplalakrishnan, present CEO becoming the Chairman of Infosys after N R Narayanmurthy getting retired in August were doing rounds and S D Shibulal, Chief Operating Officer was speculated to step into Gopalakrishnan's designation of CEO.
Although BNS Paribas maintains that the views expressed by them are totally based on market analysis and not a part of any company's briefing. They claim to have spent considerable time on studying Infosys's internal rejig that seems to be visible. The report also says that it is quite possible that Shibulal may play the transitory role of handing over the CEO's role to the non-Indian after couple of years.
On asking about the authenticity of the news, T V Mohandas Pai, Head HR at Infosys declined to comment saying that it's an unsubstantiated speculation. As far as the Gopalkrishnan becoming the CEO is concerned, he says the board will take the decision and he won't comment on the issue. However the report says that this transition is in line with the incorporation of managerial elements to make a change in their operational activities which is very much required for the company's growth.
Other companies belonging to the same fraternity have also restructured their organizations time to time for benefiting the company. In 2008, TCS restructured when the revenue opportunities seemed low. Recently Wipro made a transition from joint CEO structure to single CEO due to their under performance in last quarters. Now with the environment being more positive and worth risk taking organizations can think upon making structural changes in the company need not be on urgent basis.