Infosys May Pick an Outsider as CEO after Srinivas’ Exit: Analysts

The resignation of Infosys president and board member BG Srinivas has been described as a “major shock” and “big surprise” by analysts and has led to speculation that the IT major’s next chief executive could be an outsider.
“It looks like the next CEO in all likelihood will be an external candidate,” Nomura’s Ashwin Mehta and Pinku Pappan said.
Infosys started looking for a new CEO in April after current chief executive SD Shibulal said he wanted to retire in January 2015 or before. Mr Srinivas, who was elevated to the newly created president’s post in January this year, was seen as one of the frontrunners for the CEO position at Infosys.
Some analysts said Mr Srinivas might have quit because he may no longer be in the running for the CEO’s job. No specific reasons were given by the company in its press release with regards to the resignation.
“The fact that he has left the company indicates he was no longer in the running for the top job,” said Bhavin Shah, CEO of brokerage Equirus Capital told Reuters.
UB Pravin Rao, who was elevated as Infosys president along with Mr Srinivas, is now the senior most person in the race for the CEO post, analysts say.
Mr Srinivas is the 10th high-profile executive to quit Infosys since its co-founder NR Narayana Murthy took over as the executive chairman of the company in June 2013. The spate of exits have impacted employee morale, though analysts continue to be optimistic about the long-term prospects of Infosys.
On Thursday, Infosys shares fell as much as 8 per cent on news of Mr. Srinivas’ resignation.