 "Graphic: How Infosys stock moved since NR Narayana Murthy's return")
The departure of board member and potential CEO for Infosys, BG Srinivas, has sent the stock of the company plummeting 8 percent, in a sign that the markets weren’t pleased over the IT bellwether’s continuing long winded search for a new head.
The IT giant’s woes are compounded by the fact that Srinivas was the tenth senior executive to quit the firm, ever since NR Narayana Murthy, returned as chairman in June 2013.
So can the blame really lie with Murthy?
In a note to its clients, brokerage firm Motilal Oswal noted that since Murthy’s return Infosys had recorded some good quarters in terms of growth and the outlook for FY15 wasn’t very bright.
“We are not writing off the turnaround likelihood based on the near-term challenges amid a significant overhaul. We had mentioned that Infosys’ growth rates in the next couple of quarters will be crucial indicators of the potential to revive growth in line with peers - but expect the focus to shift to internal matters and finalizing the new CEO will take priority, driving more instability in the near term,” the brokerage noted.
Here’s a graphic of how the Infosys stock has performed since Murthy returned to the company in June 2013. It shows that it has largely risen buoyed by strong results. The departure of senior executives and a relatively gloomy outlook has meant that the stock has largely been on the decline since 6 March. The numbers on the graph indicate when the senior Infosys officials quit.
While the Infosys stock has risen 16.15 percent since June 2013, competitors like Tata Consultancy Services whose stock price rose 46.82 per cent growth in the same period.
Legend
1 - 9 July 2013 - Basab Pradhan, the group head of sales and marketing at Infosys quits
2- 24 August, 2013 - Sudhir Chaturvedi, who headed the US financial services business at Infosys Ltd leaves
3 - 28 August, 2013 - Ashok Vemuri, a member of the company’s board, global head of manufacturing and the Americas, resigns
4- 6 September, 2013 - BPO head for Latin America Humberto Andrade resigns
5- 17 September, 2013 - Kartik Jayaraman, who headed BPO sales in Australia, quits Infosys
6- 1 October, 2013 - Paul Gottsegen, vice-president and chief marketing officer puts in his papers
7- 18November, 2013 - Infosys head of utilities and resources for North America Stephen R Pratt quits
8 - 19December, 2013 - Subrahmanyam Goparaju, senior vice-president and head of Infosys Lab, quits
9- December 20, 2013- Infosys director and chief financial officer V Balakrishnan quits
10- March 20, 2014 - Infosys senior vice-president C Kakal quits
11- April 18,2014 - Chief compliance officer Nithyanandan Radhakrishnan quits
