Mindtree set for top brass revamp as 3 founders resign after L&T's takeover

Mindtree is set to undergo a leadership overhaul under Larsen & Toubro (L&T) as three founders of the Bengaluru-based IT services company have resigned.

In an exchange filing on Friday, Mindtree said its Executive Chairman Krishnakumar Natarajan, Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Operating Officer (COO) N S Parthasarathy, and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rostow Ravanan had put in their papers as members of the board and as well as employees of the company. Earlier, Subroto Bagchi, another co-founder of Mindtree, had opted out of his reappointment on the board.

“They will stay as board members till July 17 and as employees in line with their contracts to ensure smooth transition,” the filing said. The founders have also asked the company to declassify them as promoters. The company will announce a new leadership team in due course, it added. 

After the acquisition of 60.06 per cent in Mindtree on Wednesday, L&T has been categorised as 'promoter' of the IT firm. Earlier, Mindtree board had approved appointment of three L&T nominees - Mumbai-based firm's CEO & MD, SN Subrahmanyan, and its CFO Ramamurthi Shankar Raman.

Sources in the know said L&T was keen on the continuance of Natarajan as the non-executive chairman of Mindtree to oversee the transition, but he exited as the engineering firm wanted its own man as the CEO. 

“Mindtree has delivered exceptional performance for all its stakeholders over the past two decades. We are grateful to all our customers, Mindtree Minds, and external stakeholders for their steadfast support throughout our journey,” said Natarajan. 

Meanwhile, L&T has started its hunt to fill in the leadership positions at the IT services firm with names of at least three external candidates and one internal candidate doing the rounds.  Leading the race is former Cognizant President Rajeev Mehta, who is likely to head L&T's overall IT portfolio companies. Mehta, who left Cognizant in May as part of a big shake-up at the top management level, is expected to help the $18-billion construction and engineering major in the integration of Mindtree with other L&T's IT portfolio companies. 

Apart from Mehta, former Birlasoft CEO Anjan Lahiri, who is also a co-founder and former CEO for IT services business at Mindtree, and former president of global delivery at Cognizant, Debashis Chatterjee, are also doing the rounds. Among internal candidates, Parthasarathi Chatterjee, who heads L&T's oil and gas business, is seen as a probable.

Mindtree was founded in 1999 by 10 IT professionals and went on to become the fastest IT services company to cross $100 million in annual revenue in the sixth year of its operations. The company, initial public offering (IPO) of which was subscribed by more than 100 times in 2007, crossed the $1-billion revenue mark in the last financial year.