Musical money man

ICE PEOPLE

Keshav Murugesh

He loves Pink Floyd and the Beatles and recently spent a fortune on a Bose music system. But money too is music to the ears of Keshav Murugesh, Syntel Inc's chief operating officer and former chief financial officer.

The chartered accountant joined the $ 179.5 million global e-business and applications outsourcing company in May 2002 and his focus on fiscal discipline enabled Syntel to increase margins even in an environment of pricing pressure.

Over the past one year, Murugesh has taken on the additional responsibilities of global human resources and infrastructure. His HR practice begins at home.

Despite working late hours in his Mumbai office to interact with Syntel's US operations, it wouldn't be unusual to find Murugesh dropping his two children to school in the morning or having breakfast with them.

This is a practice that he takes with him to office when he shares the lunch table with his subordinates.

Apart from doing the balancing act between family life and a career in IT, Murugesh is also the chairman of the Indian chapter of SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) "� a global organisation involved in educational outreach projects in partnership with businesses across the globe.

He recently flew to Barcelona with a group of students from Indian business schools to participate in the SIFE World Cup based on themes like developing entrepreneurial skills of tribal villagers for self-reliance to converting cost-centres to profit centres. Was that one of the many reasons he was promoted to COO last week?