10 facts and possibilities on new Infosys CEO

The list of top executives who left Infosys now includes its CEO & MD SD Shibulal, who has sought an early retirement before his superannuation in March 2015.

The Bangalore-based company has set the ball rolling for finding the new CEO.

Here's a look at some facts and possibilities for this process

1) For the first time since its inception over thirty years ago, Infosys will have a non-founder CEO after Shibulal's retirement,

2) Unlike common belief, Infosys Co-Founder and Executive Chairman N R Narayana Murthy has said the company would be open to an external candidate.

3) Of the internal candidates, top runners for the post are the company's two presidents - B G Srinivas and UB Pravin Rao.

4) Until nine months ago, Infosys had three frontrunners for the CEO's job - Ashok Vemuri, V Balakrishnan and B G Srinivas. Two of the three have quit the company.

5) By the end of 2015, Infosys will for the first time have a board without any of its founding members.

6) Infosys has appointed Egon Zehnder to assist the nominations committee in identifying external candidates. The multinational executive search firm has assisted Kodak with its CEO search, and is reportedly helping to Tata Motors for find a successor for MD Karl Slym after his death.

7) Infosys has appointed Development Dimensions International (DDI), a company specialising in corporate executive evaluations to shortlist and evaluate internal candidates for CEO's post.

8) Infosys has never had a non-Indian CEO, and with technology landscape becoming global, some experts believe the company could look at a foreign national for the CEO's post.

9) One of Infosys former CEO Nandan Nilekani, and a CEO-contender Balakrishnan are contesting Lok Sabha elections this year.

10) Amid speculations over Shibulal's succession, over the last nine months, Infosys has made several structural changes and seen exits of over nine senior officials.