Salil Parekh as CEO is a huge positive for Infosys: TV Mohandas Pai

Salil Parekh taking over as CEO is hugely positive for Infosys as he is a team builder who understands the business and changing market environment, says the company's former chief financial officer T V Mohandas Pai.

Parekh being based in Bengaluru, the NASDAQ-listed company's headquarters, would also make a huge difference as most clients visit the campuses before they sign the deals and the teams working on their projects there, Pai told PTI.

"It (Parekh as CEO) is hugely positive for Infy. They will have a CEO who understands the services business, who understands the changes that are happening and what needs to be done," he said.

"He is a customer-facing person and that's exactly the kind of talent that's required. Working in a services company (in Capgemini where he worked earlier), he understands, he knows how to deal with people and how to carry teams along with him," Pai said.

Taking a dig at Parekh's predecessor Vishal Sikka, who mostly operated out of the US, Pai said, "Locking yourself in Palo Alto (in the US) did not serve any purpose for the earlier CEO; it only created barriers between the CEO and the teams. So, it's important for the CEO to be in the location, which is the headquarters, wherever it is."

He said, "Parekh has demonstrated good leadership at Capgemini where he seems to have lost out on the CEO race only because of his origin which is what happens in most European companies (which prefer Europeans at the helm)."