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The mood at Infosys' sprawling campus on Wednesday was nostalgic. The Bangalore-based information-technology services firm bid farewell to a generation of leaders who brought the company to this level. With the exit of the founding team - of the seven founders, five have already exited and two will formally step down from the board on October 10 - the company will be run by a new generation of leaders, who won't have the founders' tag attached to them any longer.
Employees in droves were seen clicking pictures on their smartphones from wherever they are as the six of the seven Infosys founders were being flanked to the swanky auditorium at the company's headquarters at Electronics City on the city outskirts of Bangalore. Among the audience, apart from thousands of Infoscions, were the past leaders of the company and special invitees such as Gopalakrishnan's professor at Indian Institute of Technology - Madras, Prof H N Mahabala.
"What an amazing day! Mr Murthy (N R Narayana Murthy), earlier today, in a different event, quoted George Washington and his vision of democracy and transfer of power in a civil and beautiful manner. And of course, this is a transition of a different nature - that of serving," Vishal Sikka, the first non-founder CEO and managing director of Infosys told the gathering in his address.
"The founders have demonstrated that not only is it possible to create such an exemplary company with extraordinary results and with even greater values, but it is also possible to demonstrate those values and transition them as they move on," Sikka added.
Among Infosys co-founders, Ashok Arora was the first one to leave the company in the early phase. Thereafter, over a period of time, Infosys saw the exits of N S Raghavan, Nandan Nilekani and K Dinesh either by retirement or voluntarily to get associated with other projects. Among others who have left the company, S D Shibulal retired on July 31, while Kris Gopalakrishnan and Murthy - who had already shed their executive roles - will step down from their board responsibilities on October 10. Murthy said he did not have any regrets over his tenure at Infosys. Talking about his most memorable point in his career, he said: "Certainly, my memorable moment was sitting on a high stool under the scorching lights of Nasdaq stock exchange and becoming the first Indian company achieve this distinction."
Infosys became the first Indian company to be listed on the technology-heavy Nasdaq stock exchange in 1999, thus setting a new benchmark for the Indian IT industry. Describing his journey at Infosys as experiment of his beliefs, Murthy who would now be designated as chairman emeritus, said: "Societies can solve the problem of poverty only through creation of jobs and compassionate capitalism."
As the founding team, Infosys co-founders have time and again demonstrated remarkable unity, recalled Nilekani, a former co-chairman and chief executive officer.
