Infosys rejigs top mgmt, creates new stars

Bangalore: Two new stars have emerged in Infosys following a major restructuring initiative, and at least one of them now appears to be a likely contender for the post of CEO when incumbent S D Shibulal retires. 

    Chandrashekar Kakal, the global head of business IT services (BITS), has been given the additional responsibility of overseeing the consulting and systems integration (CSI) business. BITS contributes 61% of Infosys's overall revenue, and consulting and systems integration contributes 33.6%. So Kakal now has a say over 95% of the company's $7-billion revenue. Stephen Pratt, the head of CSI, is likely to report to Kakal. 
    Given the scale of that responsibility, Kakal should be in contention with V Balakrishnan and B G Srinivas for the CEO position. Balakrishnan is the former CFO and now head of the BPO and India businesses, and chairman of Lodestone, the Switzerlandbased consulting company that Infosys acquired last year. B G Srinivas is the head of Europe and global head of the financial services andinsurance unit, the company's biggest industry vertical. 
    Another executive who has seen his role being dramatically expanded is Dheeshjith V G, who till now headed the life sciences vertical. Dheeshjith will now head a newly created unit called Growth Markets Unit, which combines the operations of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Middle East, South East Asia, France and Germany. All the heads in these countries and regions will report to Dheeshjith. 
    France and Germany are Infosys's big focus markets in Continental Europe, and these previously came under B G Srinivas. So Srinivas's role appears to have been squeezed. It could not be confirmed if Dheeshjith will continue to lead the life sciences vertical, which reports to Pravin Rao, the head of retail, consumer packaged goods, logistics and life sciences. Dheeshjith has had previous experience with country responsibilities. 
    Infosys declined to provide details of its reorganization, but sent the following statement to TOI: "We have undertaken certain reorganization within the company to further improve our client focus and competitiveness. A few senior leaders have seen their roles enhanced as part of this reorganization as well as a result of Ashok Vemuri's resignation." 
    Kakal's extended responsibility flummoxed HR experts. "It's unusual for a client facing role (consulting) to report to a delivery head (Kakal's role in BITS)," said a Mumbaibased analyst who didn't want to be named. The only rationale seems to be that the company is trying to increase Kakal's breadth of exposure. 
    Kakal, who joined Infosys in 1999, is responsible, in his BITS role, for application development, maintenance, testing, and infrastructure management services worldwide. He oversees 60,000 employees serving clients across all industry verticals from a global network of delivery centres. 
    Infosys has created a new vertical called utilities and resources for the North America market, which will be managed by Stephen Pratt. 
ANOTHER CEO CONTENDER 

• Global head of Infosys's business IT services (BITS), Chandrashekar Kakal, has got additional charge of consulting and systems integration (CSI) business 

• As BITS accounts for 61% of the IT co's total revenue and CSI nearly 34%, Kakal is now responsible for 95% of Infy's turnover 

• The new responsibilities have catapulted Kakal as a contender for the CEO post along with V Balakrishnan and B G Srinivas after incumbent S D Shibulal retires 
LatAm exec quits 
    Infosys BPO Latin America head Humberto Andrade has quit the company to join Capgemini as VP of consumer products, retail and distribution BPO in Americas. Aniket Maindarkar, who was with Infosys BPO earlier, has rejoined as head of Americas for Infosys BPO. TNN