Analysts bet on Murthy magic despite senior-level exits at Infosys
Chandrashekar Kakal became the ninth high-ranking executive to quit Infosys since the return of co-founder NR Narayana Murthy in June 2013. Mr Kakal headed the India Business Unit and was also responsible for application development, maintenance, testing, and infrastructure management verticals at Infosys.
Infosys shares were wobbly on Friday, moving up and down, despite range bound trade in broader markets. A string of brokerages raised concerns about the spate of exits at India's second largest software exporter. (Read the story here)
However, analysts NDTV spoke to said Mr Kakal's exit was anticipated and the resignations at Infosys are part of the restructuring process initiated by Mr Murthy.
Sanjeev Hota, AVP (research) at Sharekhan said the latest development is not a surprise for markets and investors should use any weakness in Infosys shares as a buying opportunity. (Watch)
"Nobody knows the DNA of Infosys better than Mr Murthy and there are hopes that he will revive the company over the next two years," he added.
Infosys has embarked on an ambitious strategy since Mr Murthy's return last year. The company is cutting costs and re-focusing on large bread and butter IT outsourcing deals to boost revenues. The change in strategy was necessitated after Infosys witnessed a sharp decline in revenue growth and margins between March 2011 and 2013 despite favourable conditions. (Read: The long-term plan of Infosys)
Mr Murthy has promised that Infosys will get to the median growth rate in the industry within three years and in five years the company will get back to industry-leading growth rate. He has also maintained that exits have not hampered Infosys.
"Barring a few exceptions, most people that left us were not adding critical value to the company," he said at an investor conference last week.
Long time market watcher Bharat Shah of ASK group says, "In Narayana Murthy, you have as good a leader as you can hope to ever get." (Watch)
Mr Shah says the current management has acknowledged that some issues have crept over a period of time. A fair amount of challenges are intrinsic to the company, but those are being addressed and investors have to be patient, he added.
Infosys shares closed flat at Rs 3,305.25 and underperformed the broader BSE IT index, which gained 0.65 per cent. (Track stock)