HCL MD Harsh Chitale resigns; Sheshadri to take charge

Chitale will remain with the company till this month-end

IT company HCL Infosystems on Monday said its Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Harshavardhan Madhav (pictured) Chitale has resigned from the company. He will remain with the company till this month-end and Director and Executive Vice-Chairman of HCL Infosystems Premkumar Seshadri will take charge as MD, the company informed stock exchanges.

“Harshavardhan Madhav Chitale has resigned as MD & CEO and as Director of the company with effect from close of business hours on December 31, 2014. The Board has in its meeting held on December 8, 2014, approved his resignation,” the regulatory filing said.

Seshadri’s designation will be ‘Executive Vice-Chairman & Managing Director’, the company said.

Seshadri, is looking to augment the Rs 7,000-crore information technology (IT) hardware maker’s go-to-market strategy in distribution business and enhance e-commerce presence.

“Reform at organisation is an ongoing process. Harsh has contributed well to the business, which we will take forward. We are internally looking at setting some benchmark for growth, augmenting our go-to-market strategy,” Seshadri told PTI.

“The next phase of growth for the company has been planned around a journey that will achieve Gold Standards across people, financial and customer metrices and thereby drive continuous excellence,” Seshadri said.

He said that the company has presence in e-commerce business and going forward, will “enhance its penetration” in online channel business.

HCL Infosystems has been seeing losses, mainly due to its distribution business. In the quarter ended September, the company posted consolidated net loss of Rs 45 crore.

The company posted annual net loss of Rs 214 crore for the year ended June.On whether there was any business pressure behind Chitale’s resignation, Seshadri said, Chitale decided to take a role outside the company.

Chitale, who joined as MD and CEO of HCL Infosystems in October 2010, had restructured the firm in a way that the distribution and services business were separated from each other.

“I have really liked the challenge for the last four years in leading HCL Infosystems through a difficult business environment. It has been a privilege to lead the company through its restructuring and transformation journey where business model changes were completed,” Chitale said.

Shares of HCL Infosystems closed at Rs 60.25 apiece, down 7.02 per cent at the BSE on Monday.