Infosys appoints veteran Ranganath as CFO

The move was necessitated after Rajiv Bansal announced his exit

Infosys said on Monday M D Ranganath, a company veteran, would take over as the new chief financial officer (CFO), as the incumbent Rajiv Bansal, had decided to move on.

Bansal, 42, a qualified chartered accountant, had joined Infosys in 1999 from Tata Technologies, where he had worked for nine months as a manager in the finance department. In November, 2012, he had taken over as CFO of Infosys after  V Balakrishnan decided to take other roles in the company. The firm said Bansal had decided to pursue career outside.

“I would like to thank Rajiv (Bansal) for his outstanding contribution to the company and for being a great partner over the past 16 months. As Infosys’ CFO, Rajiv has led our financial strategy and has been instrumental in bringing us to this point in our transformational journey,” said Vishal Sikka, chief executive and managing director.

Ranganath has been with the company for the past 15 years holding several leadership positions.  

An alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology-Madras and Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, Ranganath was previously an executive vice-president and head of strategic operations, responsible for strategic planning, risk management, mergers & acquisitions and corporate marketing.

When N R Narayana Murthy came back to Infosys during his second term, Ranganath was part of the four-member team in the chairman’s office where he was responsible for the firm’s cost optimisation initiatives.

“Over the course of the past 16 months, I have come to know Ranga as a passionate and balanced leader with tremendous ability, knowledge and integrity,” said Sikka.

Ranganath took up the new role at the close of the business hour on Monday.

Bansal’s is one of the second high-profile exits from Infosys in recent days after that of Sanjay Jalona, executive vice-president responsible for high-tech manufacturing and engineering services business at the Bengaluru-based company. Jalona joined mid-sized IT services company L&T Infotech as chief executive and managing director.

Bansal’s next destination is not clear. Sources say he is likely to move to private equity.