Infosys will get a new chief before I retire: Murthy

Infosys chief mentor and chairman N R Narayana Murthy on Tuesday said the company co-founded by him will get his suitable successor well in time before his retirement in August 2011.

The hunt for a replacement for Infosys chairman and chief mentor has already started as Murthy will retire in August 2011 when he turns 65.

Talking to reporters about his succession plan, Murthy said, "We have a nominations committee. Jeffrey Lehman is the chairman of that. At an appropriate time he will do that. Certainly, he and his committee will come up with a successor in time so that I can retire on August 20, 2011."

Murthy was in the capital to attend an AIMA event. Infosys' nominations committee, which has ICICI Bank non-executive chairman K V Kamath, Cornell University professor Lehman and HDFC Standard Life Insurance CEO Deepak M Satwalekar as members, has already begun discussions on the process.

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The purpose of the nominations committee is to oversee the company's nomination process for the top level management and specifically to identify, screen and review individuals qualified to serve as executive directors, non-executive directors and independent directors.

However, Murthy declined to comment whether he prefers an Infoscion to step into his shoes.

Murthy established Infosys in 1981 with an initial capital of $250 along with six of his co-founders, Nandan Nilekani, Kris Gopalakrishnan, S D Shibulal, K Dinesh, N S Raghavan and A Arora.

The succession plan of Murthy comes at a time, when India's top business house Tatas has begun the search for successor to its chief Ratan Tata, who is slated to retire in December 2012.

With revenues of Rs 6,198 crore (Rs 61.98 billion) at the end of June 30, 2010, Infosys has over 113,000 employees in over 50 offices worldwide.

Shares of Infosys were trading at Rs 2,823.05, down 1.74 per cent at the Bombay Stock Exchange.