‘Mindtree preparing for leadership change’

Foreseeing the course of leadership change, IT services company MindTree said it is preparing to transition the company into “newer, younger and more capable hands.”

“We have been a founderled company. But, we also realise that scaling isn’t a one-time affair. So, this requires the help to transition the company into newer, younger hands,” Subrato Bagchi, chairman of MindTree Ltd, told this correspondent.

Mr Bagchi was in the city to talk on his new book The Elephant Catchers at the Indian School of Business (ISB).

He revealed that the company will undergo a major restructuring exercise. “We are restructuring the company,” he said, adding that the company will look at doubling its size and focus on verticalising it. According to him, MindTree will divide focus areas into four segments — banking and financial services; manufacturing, CPG and retail; high-tech and travel, hospitality and media.

Meanwhile, the company, under its former chairman and founder Ashok Soota in 2008, had aimed at a $1 billion target in revenues by 2014. However, analysts say though the growth target seems very ambitious for a mid-sized IT services firm, it could take more time than expected.

The company has been witnessing growth for 15 consecutive quarters, added Mr Bagchi.

Even brokerage firm Credit Suisse named MindTree as one of its favourites from the midsized IT companies.

Elaborating on his recently released book, Mr Bagchi said it is targeted at entrepreneurs from tier-II cities and he is working with the CII to propagate it. “Expertise is at the heart of the Elephant Catchers,” he said, drawing an analogy of how scaling up needs expertise and so does “Elephant Catching.”

On the company’s growth path, he said “we can’t continue like a made-in-India firm forever, so globalisation is the way forward (indicating expansion to other nations). Also, companies should have leaders who scale themselves up.”