BENGALURU:
Infosys's outgoing CFO MD Ranganath addressed his core finance team on Monday on his sudden decision to move on from the firm after spending 18 long years.
The attempt, sources said, was to reassure colleagues that there was nothing to be read into his departure other than what has been shared publicly.
Ranganath is learnt to have addressed around 15 senior leaders from finance including Jayesh Sanghrajka, deputy CFO, Deepak Padaki, chief risk officer, Deepak Bhalla, SVP and head of business finance & revenue assurance, Sunil Dhareshwar, SVP and group head of global tax and corporate accounting, Sachin Zute, VP of corporate finance, treasury, M&A & subsidiaries finance, Sandeep Mahindroo, investor relations head. The meeting lasted for over 20 minutes in the company's campus. Ranganath thanked his team members for their contribution and support.
Sources said that some of his team members sensed a frantic pace of activity in the campus on Friday, the day he resigned. But they were clueless about the development till the announcement came the following day. They learnt about his resignation from the stock exchanges, after the board accepted his resignation on Saturday.
When TOI asked Infosys about Ranganath addressing his team, the company said it cannot comment on such matters. Ranganath's resignation sent the company's share price down initially by about 4 per cent on Monday. It closed the day 3 per cent down. This happened on a day when the sensex surged, and the share prices of TCS and Wipro rose. Infosys' market capitalisation eroded by Rs 10,079.73 crore.
Brokerage firm Emkay said Infosys' reversal in its strategy of choosing growth over profitability conflicts with the CFO's function. "Infosys has witnessed a significant KMP (key management personnel) exodus in the last 12 months, which may weigh on its performance in the current troubled growth environment," it said.
Madhu Babu of brokerage firm Prabhudas Lilladher said the exit comes as a surprise. "Salil Parekh took over as the CEO effective January 2018. There were a few senior level exits in June 2018 (manufacturing vertical head and healthcare vertical head). However, CFO resignation comes at an unanticipated time," said Babu.
Infosys's outgoing CFO MD Ranganath.
