Salil Parekh Becomes The New Infosys CEO

Salil Parekh has taken charge of the Bengaluru based information technology (IT) major, Infosys, as the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Parekh has been appointed as the new MD and CEO for a period of five years effective from January 2, 2018.

Infosys has had a bumpy year with multiple heads resigning from the company over issues with the founder Narayana Murthy. The former CEO of Infosys, Vishal Sikka, stepped down from his position in August last year after a prolonged standoff with the promoters. The company has been on a lookout for a new head since then. Salil Parekh will be replacing the interim CEO U. B. Pravin Rao.

Parekh was previously the chief executive officer of the professional services and business consulting corporation Capgemini. Parekh is credited with building Capgemini’s IT operations in India and with their acquisition of iGate in 2015. Parekh was also a partner at professional services firm Ernst & Young when Capgemini bought the IT consulting practice. Similar to Sikka, Parekh is the second outsider to take the top job at the 36 year old company.

At Infosys, Parekh will be working with co founder, Nandan Nilekani, who was recently named as the Non Executive Chairman of the company. Parekh also received the green signal from Infosys co founder Narayana Murthy, unlike Sikka. Parekh will be responsible for bringing stability to the company, shore up their outsourcing business, retain talent and carry forward Sikka’s automation strategy. Besides these responsibilities, Parekh will also have to quickly lay out the strategic direction for the firm as Sikka had tried to veer the company away from its traditional strengths.

Infosys is also set to announce its third quarter financials on 12 January 2018. The main aim of the $10 billion company will be to bring back the focus on revenue growth and business strategy under the new leadership.