Infosys sees another high-profile exit

In a development considered an offshoot of the ongoing restructuring at Infosys, Aditya Nath Jha, a company veteran heading branding and corporate marketing, has resigned.

He had joined almost eight years ago.

Mohandas Pai, director (human resources) and a board member, had put in his papers recently.

Jha is understood to have quit after realising that some of his functions have been realigned with some new positions.

While Jha could not be contacted, Subhash Dhar, the head of global marketing and a member of the company’s executive council, said Jha quit before the restructuring came into effect. “It was his personal decision, as he wanted to go back to the movie and animation industry. After he quit, some of his roles were merged with others,” he said.

However, sources close to Jha said he was left powerless after the company decided to fill the position of the chief marketing officer, vacant since Srinivas Uppaluri’s exit.

In September last year, Infosys appointed the former vice-president of marketing at HP and Dell, Paul Gottsegen, as chief marketing officer.

For some reason, it is yet to make a formal announcement on this.

“Infosys decided to move corporate marketing and branding roles to the US, where Gottsegen is located. This is because the company feels the need to focus more on marketing and branding in its largest market (US),” said the sources. Uppaluri, the earlier marketing head, was based in India.

The company has entrusted some roles that Jha was handling with Sumit Virmani, earlier the head of marketing at Finacle, the banking products arm of Infosys. In his new role, Virmani will be the face of corporate marketing and branding in India, reporting to Gottsegen. Gottsegen will report to Dhar, who is the head of global sales and marketing.

Infosys is in the process of a restructuring to make itself leaner. It has reduced the number of verticals from six to four. The four are banking, financial services and insurance; energy, utilities and telecom; retail, life sciences and pharma; and manufacturing.

While many senior executives believe they been entrusted with more work without much financial gain, some feel their positions have become redundant.