Infosys new CFO Rajiv bansal's biography | Rajiv bansal will take place of V Balakrishnan
Infosys CFO V Balakrishnan will step down from his current role at the end of this month to focus on three areas which the company said are strategic to it — the India business, the BPO business and the banking software product Finacle. He will remain on the board of the company. Balakrishnan, or Bala as he’s popularly known, will be replaced by 41-year-old Rajiv Bansal, who joined the company in 1999 as a chartered accountant.
Bala’s move set off a spate of speculation. Some said it’s the traditional way in which Infosys grooms senior executives for higher level positions. In Bala’s case, this could be the CEO’s position, which would become vacant in three years when S D Shibulal turns 60 and steps down. Bala, who has been in finance since he joined in 1991, will now be exposed more to the business operations side of Infosys. There are other examples of this in Infosys’s history. T V Mohandas Pai, who headed finance for many years, moved to head HR. Earlier this year, B G Srinivas and Ashok Vemuri interchanged their positions, the former is now the global head of financial services and insurance and the latter is the global head of manufacturing and engineering services. It is widely believed that Bala, Srinivas or Vemuri will succeed Shibulal.
However, some others said Bala was far from happy with the change. Those at the media conference on Friday also felt a sense of disquiet. Bala did not make his usual presentation following the CEO’s address. There was a distinct pause as the event coordinator and Shibulal looked at him, apparently urging him to come forward. He did not stay back after the event, as he normally does, to interact with the media.
Shibulal categorically denied speculation that Bala was resigning. “You will continue to see Bala sitting next to me in future such events. We have always believed in giving up positions for younger people once they are ready. Bala has been grooming Rajiv for many years, and Rajiv is now ready for the job,” he said.
The new roles that he has been given constitute very small businesses at the moment. The India business is just 1.6% of revenues, the BPO business is 4.7% and the Finacle business is about 4%. Shibulal, however, said that each of those businesses were amongst the future growth areas for the company. He noted that the BPO business is growing at about 18%, compared to the company growth of 5%. He noted that Bala would be on the board of Lodestone, the acquisition made last month that is strategic to Infosys in its consulting and Europe businesses.
