Next Infosys chairman to be 'non-founder': Nandan Nilekani

Infosys co-founder and incumbent chairman Nandan Nilekani has announced that the chairman of the tech giant’s board of directors will not be a founder. In a statement made on Wednesday, the industrialist also revealed some details about what the transition period will look like after he steps down as chairman. Nilekani made the comments at a founders’ panel marking 40 years of Infosys’ at the company’s Bengaluru headquarters. “I will be handing over to a chairman, at whatever point I exit from the scene, who will be a non-founder. Now, there is no plan B. In case you handover to someone and it doesn’t work out, there is no plan B. I cannot come back at 75 or so. I don’t think any of these guys (other founders) want to come back either.” However, Nilekani did not give a timeline for the transition. He also clarified that while the company’s focus is on creating an institution that crosses generations, he had not yet found a suitable successor. The statement by Nilekani follows the observation of co- founder N.R. Narayana Murthy on providing an equal opportunity to everyone if they are the best person for a key management role. Nilekani resigned as co-chairman of Infosys in July 2009 for steering the government’s Aadhaar identification project as the chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). He returned to Infosys as the chairman in August 2017 after the resignation of the first non-founding member and CEO Vishal Sikka. Sikka had stepped down from the post after the conflict between him and NR Narayana Murthy became public. According to Abhishek Mukherjee, Director (and founding team) at Auctus Advisors, appointment of a chairman from outside the ambit of Infosys’ founders would show confidence from the tech giant’s board members in relinquishing influence on crucial decisions. Taking into account the trend of family members in key leaderships seen in companies like Wipro, Mukherjee added that Infosys’ decision is going to be a positive step ahead in the corporate sector. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.