Another exec quits in setback for Sikka
BENGALURU: A top executive at Infosys Ltd’s products and platforms unit EdgeVerve has quit, three executives familiar with the development said. This is the fourth senior-level exit in 40 days at India’s second-largest software services exporter.
Anirban Dey, global head and chief business officer of the Edge line of products at EdgeVerve, resigned last week and is serving his notice period, the executives cited above said on the condition of anonymity.
Dey, who joined Infosys in March 2015 was heading sales, marketing, services and operations for EdgeVerve products. The EdgeVerve business, which includes its core banking platform Finacle, accounted for $143.1 million or 5.4% of Infosys’s $2.65 billion revenue for the quarter ended June 2017.
Separately, Infosys has also named M&A head Deepak Padaki, also the company’s chief risk officer, as director on the board of Edgeverve, as per the company’s website.
“We do not comment on exits or appointments other than those of Key Management Personnel,” said an Infosys spokeswoman in an email to Mint.Dey did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Dey’s exit comes four months after Infosys named San Francisco-based technology executive Pervinder Johar as CEO of EdgeVerve. Dey was formerly the managing director of SAP Labs India, the research and development arm of the German software maker, and was one of at least 16 executives who were hired from SAP SE at the rank of associate vice-president and above since Vishal Sikka took over as CEO in August 2014.
Worryingly for Infosys, since March last year, at least 10 of these executives have quit. Earlier this month, Yusuf Bashir, MD of Infosys’s $500-million Innovation Fund, and Ritika Suri, head of mergers and acquisitions, put in their papers.
In June, Infosys’ Americas’ head Sandeep Dadlani, who was overseeing close to one-third of the company’s annual business, or about $3.5 billion of its total annual revenue, too decided to leave the company.
In an interview to PTI earlier in July, Infosys co-chairman Ravi Venkatesan had said he was hopeful that CEO Vishal Sikka would help orchestrate a turnaround in the company’s fortunes and not think of leaving Infosys because of losing highprofile talent.
“Well, I very much hope that it is the former (that Sikka will turn things around), not the latter (that he will turn his back on Infosys due to losing top executives).”
For Infosys, like its other rival homegrown IT outsourcing companies, the products and platforms business represents a crucial opportunity and according to experts, the company can’t afford to lose key talent in these new digital businesses, amid a commoditisation of its traditional outsourcing business, which is increasingly seen as a low-margin business.