Vemuri didn't consult me before quitting: Murthy

Ashok Vemuri was being considered as one of three contenders for position of CEO

N R Narayana Murthy, the executive chairman and co-founder of Infosys has said that Ashok Vemuri, board member and Head of Americas & Manufacturing vertical did not consult him while taking the decision to leave the company.

Vemuri who was also considered as one of the three contenders for the position of CEO, resigned from the company on Thursday.

“I was close to him since he was one of my mentees. He consulted me often on many matters and we were also good family friends. I must admit he did not consult me on this decision to move on. I understand his predicament,” Murthy said in a statement in reply to a query.

Vemuri, a graduate in Physics from St. Stephens Colleges, Delhi and an alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad, joined Infosys in 1999 when Murthy was the chairman and CEO of the Bangalore-based company.

Murthy said even though he had attempted to retain Vemuri, he had already made up his mind to join another company as their CEO as early as possible even though the company is much smaller. Vemuri wanted to take up that role as his probability of becoming the CEO was somehow low. “…he (Vemuri) said, the probability of his becoming the CEO at Infosys was at best 33 percent and at least 18 to 20 months away. Therefore, he felt that he must move on. I agreed with him and wished him the best since he has been a wonderful Infoscion,” Murthy added.

Vemuri was one of the three senior executives that the company was considering for the position of CEO, the other two being V Balakrishnan, board member, Head of India business, Finacle and Infosys BPO, and B G Srinivas, also a board member and Head of Europe & BFSI business.

It is widely believed that Vemuri may join Nasdaq-listed IT services company iGate as its CEO. A spokesperson of iGate, however, declined to offer any comment on this.