Dhar disappointed at not getting Infy board position

BANGALORE: Infosys Technologies head of innovations Subhash Dhar said he was disappointed at not having been appointed to the company board. Infosys had said on Saturday that Dhar was leaving to start a new venture.

“It would have been a dream to get a board level position after close to 15 years with the company. But I’m leaving with a good feeling as the company has laid a solid professional foundation for me through its great value systems and the opportunity to work with some of the best industry leaders ,” he told TOI.

Infosys on Saturday appointed three new executive directors to the board—CFO V Balakrishnan, head of manufacturing B G Srinivas, and head of banking and capital markets Ashok Vemuri. Analysts say that Dhar was a contender for the board position.

Dhar said he is leaving Infosys because he believes that to lead a strategic service line like business innovation , a board level position was imperative. “Innovation is the way forward not just for Infosys but for the entire IT sector. Unless you have the powers and flexibility of a board member it is difficult to drive this initiative ,” he said. Dhar believes that the innovation-led model that include areas like products, platforms, cloud etc are capital intensive and requires more than just an executive council member to drive it. Dhar is part of the Infosys executive council.

Dhar’s is the second major exit after the recent leadership changes at India’s second biggest IT company. HR head T V Mohandas Pai quit on June 11 seemingly disappointed with the leadership structure.

A decision on Dhar’s final day at Infosys as well as his successor has not been made yet.