Basab Pradhan first casualty of Murthy 2.0 - Daily News & Analysis

In the first setback to Infosys Technologies after co-founder N R Narayana Murthy took back the company's reins, Basab Pradhan, global sales and marketing head, has quit. Pradhan was part of Infy's executive council that's now headed by Murthy. He tweeted he was leaving to "go back to the start-up world." Infosys, which will unveil its first-quarter results on Friday, wished him the best in a statement. This is the second time Pradhan is leaving the company after joining in 1994. He replaced the controversial Phaneesh Murthy, who later co-founded iGate, as head of sales and marketing in 2002. In 2005, he quit to form a startup called Gridstone Research. But that didn't succeed and Pradhan returned to Infy in 2011. Pradhan was also touted as one of the contenders to succeed S D Shibulal as CEO in 2015. Industry sources view this as the first of many exits to come, as Murthy revamps his sales team. "Leadership changes, like the bringing back of Murthy, are bound to cause exits from existing teams who cannot realign to the changes introduced by the new management," said a senior source familiar with the development. "A senior leadership exit like this is not the best thing, especially for a company in transition," said an analyst, who did not wish to be named. During the company's annual general meeting (AGM) recently, Murthy had said it would take him at least three years to script Infy's turnaround, given the tough economic environment. Murthy announced a second set of wage hikes for employees this year, despite falling profitability, which was viewed by Coder Street as a positive first step by the IT veteran. However, top management changes may be harder to digest, especially given that some frowned at Murthy breaking the policy he himself had set by bringing in son Rohan Murty to assist him. When asked about Pradhan's replacement, an Infy spokesperson said it was too early to comment. An alumnus of IIT Kanpur and IIM Ahmedabad, Pradhan worked with Hindustan Unilever (HUL) before joining Infy. At Infy, he and his team were responsible for increasing business to over $2 billion from $400 million. He also oversaw the opening of Infy's first sales office in New York in 1995. Pradhan co-authored a book called 'Offshore: How India Got Back On The Global Business Map' with Gaurav Rastogi in 2011 during his second stint at Infy. via Business - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFZP9_a8UD7EEnAVQvkPdGu2yzXAg&url=http://www.dnaindia.com/money/1859319/report-basab-pradhan-first-casualty-of-murthy-2-0

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