The market valuation of TCS was Rs 11,58,419.07 crore on the BSE. (File)
Bombay:
K Krithivasan, chief executive officer-designate of TCS, the country’s largest software services provider, said on Friday that the company has no culture of radical strategic changes when it gets a new chief and sounded optimistic about doubling customer deliveries.
The $25 billion software giant said in a surprise announcement Thursday that Rajesh Gopinathan, its CEO for more than six years with more than four years left until his second five-year term, has decided to move on from Sept. 15. The IT major also said Krithivasan, president of his BSFI branch which accounts for 31.5 percent of its revenue, will lead the company as CEO candidate effective immediately.
Rajesh Gopinathan, 52, said this is his first layoff and he has not written a resume since the campus days when he joined Tata Industries from campus 27 years ago and TCS 22 years ago. He did not reveal his plans after September 15.
The sudden departure of Rajesh Gopinathan made little impression on the TCS counter.
On the BSE, the scrip opened at Rs 3,151 after closing at Rs 3,184.75 on Thursday. After hitting an intra-day high of Rs 3,194, the stock fell 0.62 percent to Rs 3,165.
The market valuation of TCS, a major constituent of Sensex, was Rs 11,58,419.07 crore on the BSE.
On the NSE, the company fell 0.47 percent to Rs 3,169.90. It had opened at Rs 3,150.50 after finishing the day at Rs 3,185 on Thursday.
“Our core principle has been and will continue to work for and with our clients and will continue to be so under me. I do not expect, or you (media) should expect, major strategic changes under me,” 58-year-old Krithivasan told reporters via video conference on Friday. Outgoing CEO Rajesh Gopinathan also attended the video conference.
“In fact, TCS does not have the culture of making radical strategic changes when it gets a new CEO. We will continue as we have been – focused on customers. But of course changes will come as the markets demand of us.” Our culture of ‘One Team’ will remain the core focus,” he said.
“It’s a continuum, we don’t change strategically when a new CEO comes in. But we will change based on what our customers want and how the market changes. We won’t make short changes, but will continue with our core focus to be with the customers,” he explained.
“I hope to double our deliveries,” he claimed.
Rajesh Gopinathan said his 22 years with the TCS have been “fantastic”.
“And now that I have decided to move forward, which was taken after much deliberation with the family and the group chairman and my mentor N Chandrasekaran, I feel so light now.
“For the past six years I have been leading the TCS team with excitement. And I have loved every day I spent with the company. But today I have mixed feelings. Yes, I am also a little sad when reality hits me penetrates and at the same time I also feel very light now,” he added.
During his six years, he has added more than $10 billion to the company’s incremental revenue and more than $70 billion to its market cap. In the first nine months of this fiscal year, it posted sales growth of 14.8 percent in constant currency, the best in the industry.
On the timing of his resignation, Rajesh Gopinathan said, “We are in the most stable of times considering what we have experienced in recent years. Of course there are some ups and downs. It was important for me to announce the decision before the start of the new fiscal year.” He declined to reveal his plans, except that he “has a lot of ideas for the future”.
“I feel so happy and light now, it’s completely liberating now, but a week before it swallowed me up so much. It’s also always better to leave when things are going well and not when everyone is cheering for me to leave, ” he said.
“The timing now made sense to follow. I’ve met Chandra occasionally and told him I wanted to move on. So it’s better to pull the trigger now. Yes, TCS has been an integral part of who I am and so is the I never thought. And I am sure my contributions to TCS will be lasting. In the past 22 years, I have never thought about anything but TCS,” Rajesh Gopinathan said while getting emotional.
On is now a priority, he said, “my immediate priority is that Krithi intervenes smoothly and that I will be 100 percent available to him”.
On the transition challenges, Krithivasan, who has been with the company for 37 years, said on a lighter note that leaving Chennai will be more challenging than the CEO’s job.
“Transition is not rocket science as we have a stable team and we have been working together for so many years. The most important thing is that I know certain business lines well and the rest I will learn from Rajesh, he said, adding, “but we are our customers and stakeholders for our success and that will be my main focus — doubling our deliveries.” K Krithivasan said he is confident of success “because we are blessed with the culture of one team. We have so many leaders to replace me in the BSFI industry and we don’t expect dramatic changes in the future. Our core principle is working customers and will continue to be.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
