Nobody who has been following recent management changes at Infosys Ltd should be surprised by the resignation of Senior Vice President Chandrasekhar Kakal.
Kakal had seen his role drastically cut down just two months ago when Murthy announced a total alignment of Infosys’ management structure. From a executive council based structure, Infosys went to a conventional two-presidents structure.
Kakal, who was till then head of global delivery operations, one of the most crucial jobs in the company, was assigned to assist Srinath Batni, a board member who handles information security, computer and communication division, and purchase and communication design group.
He was promised to be put in charge of those divisions later this year when Batni retired.
But it was seen as a demotion in many ways, though Kakal was also given charge of the India business.
Most of Kakal’s responsibilities were handed over to UB Pravin Rao, who was also elevated to the post company president and whose chances of succeeding SD Shibulal suddenly became much brighter than those of Kakal.
The change was so abrupt that many analysts were still trying to make sense of the new order when the Infosys management was addressing analyst queries at the quarterly conference call in January.
An analyst, for example, wanted to know who Chandrasekar Kakal would report to.
Narayana Murthy, for his part, has said that those who cannot peform, have to leave the company, and that, apart from one or two cases, the departures would be good for Infosys as it would be for the people who left.
Among those who have left are former Americas head Ashok Vemuri and board member V Balakrishnan.