BANGALORE: Infosians on Wednesday bid farewell to co-founder and former CEO of the company, Kris Gopalakrishnan, marking the end of co-founder era at one of India’s biggest IT companies.
Another co-founder N R Narayana Murthy, who was also present on the occasion, said he had no regrets about his controversial second come back.
“I have no regrets at all. Life is about doing certain things and not doing certain things. At the end of the day, it is the sum total of all this.... So I have no regrets,” said Murthy flanked by other founders including Nandan Nilekani who had a brief stint in politics and unsuccessfully contested last Lok Sabha elections from Bangalore.
Kris, who along with six others co-founded Infosys in 1981 with a $250 seed capital, said he is not set out for politics. “In my case, at least at this point, no political ambitions at all. I don't think I am set out for politics," Kris said when asked if he will follow his former colleagues Nandan Nilekani and V Balakrishnan’s footsteps to enter politics.
Six of the seven co-founders were present on the day with only Ashok Arora unable to make it to the event held at their Electronic City campus.
The company will be without any co-founders serving in the ranks since they started operations. Their new CEO Vishal Sikka will also be the first non-co-founder taking charge at the Bangalore-based company.
Murthy, who brought his son Rohan along in the second stint, quit in June following a spate of senior executives leaving the company.
He and Gopalakrishnan stepped down as executive chairman and executive vice chairman, respectively, on June 14. They, however, continue on the board till October 10 as non- executive chairman and non-executive vice chairman.
Murthy, who will be designated as Chairman Emeritus from October 11, said listing of Infosys on Nasdaq, the first by an Indian company, was high point of his career.
“We leave with the satisfaction of taking this company from a market value of `28.5 crore on the day of listing in India in 1993 to `2,00,000 crore today, a return of 6,50,000 per cent over 21 years – a CAGR of 89 per cent,” Murthy said.