Accepting that the performance of Infosys in the last two years has not been "satisfactory", its CEO S D Shibulal today said the firm has been able to put behind its issues and has emerged stronger.
Shibulal, who has often faced criticism by investors and analysts following the laggard performance of the once IT bellwether, is set to retire next year in January, two months ahead of his superannuation.
"When I took over there were two things that were on my mind. Number one was to leave behind a stronger Infosys than what I inherited at that period.
"I clearly believe that we have a stronger Infosys today because we have put behind all the issues and we have a new set of leaders in place to take over the organisation towards further growth," he told reporters here.
He further said: "Second on performance, our performance for the last two years in my mind is not satisfactory. But at the same time I believe that we have improved our performance year on year by hundred per cent and have bridged the gap...".
The Bangalore-based firm today reported 25 per cent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,992 crore for the fourth quarter of last fiscal from Rs 2,394 crore in the year-ago period. Revenue for the reported quarter rose 23.2 per cent to Rs 12,875 crore from Rs 10,454 crore.
"If I look at the period, I have made number of choices and I think they were all the right choices," Shibulal, one of the seven co-founders of the IT major, said.
Stating that he took over the role of CEO in a very challenging environment, Shibulal said Infosys was facing several external and internal challenges during that period.
"The external environment was challenging because of the economic uncertainty in the environment as well as the specific challenges faced by our clients," he added.
He said internal challenges were many when he took over like transformation to Infosys 3.0 and legal challenges.
"Today we concluded all these challenges the employee retaliation cases have been concluded, the justice department probe has been concluded....I have done extensive client meetings and have articulated the new Infosys 3.0 strategy and mitigated any impact," Shibulal noted.
In response to a question on why the decision on leaving the office comes before the term ends, Shibulal said, "My superannuation will come in March, in January there will be board meeting for that....It was more important to share a plan and announce that the transition will be effective."
"Given that the board had initiated the search, I thought that now is the best time to provide clarity and remove any uncertainty about how it will happen, so that's what I did. I will transition either in January or at the earliest point that when the nominations committee will decide the next candidate," he added.
Shibulal also clarified that he will resign both as CEO and as the member of the board as and when it happens.
