{"id":1149,"date":"2017-09-05T04:52:38","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T23:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rtiwala.com\/?p=1149"},"modified":"2025-12-01T10:15:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T04:45:55","slug":"infosys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rtiwala.com\/content\/infosys\/","title":{"rendered":"Infosys Drama: Nandan Nilekani In, Vishal Sikka Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

RTIwala Explains: <\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>Infosys was started by Narayan Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, N.S. Raghavan, S. Gopalakrishnan, S.D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh, and Ashok Arora, all of whom were former employees of Patni Computer Systems.<\/p>\n

July 7, 1981, marked the birth of an NYSE listed global consulting and IT services company<\/a>, Infosys. From a capital of US$ 250, Information Systems aka Infosys has grown to become a US$ 10.4 billion company with a market capitalization of approximately US$34.50 billion.<\/p>\n

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India is now perceived as an economic giant to reckon with, bursting with brilliant software engineers and ambitious entrepreneurs<\/a>. All thanks to a fateful morning of January 1981 that led to the birth of a company that has out passed all barriers and today is the 2nd<\/sup> largest Indian MNC IT services company. It was the fateful morning of January 1981 when Narayan Murthy and six software engineers sat in his apartment debating how they could create a company to write software codes. Six months later, Infosys was born. Infosys co-founder N S Raghavan’s house in Matunga, North Central Mumbai, was its registered office<\/a>. It was then known as Infosys Consultants Pvt. Ltd.\u00a0Today it is known as Infosys Limited, after it went public limited company in June 1992.<\/p>\n

The spices of struggle, day in and day out at Infosys<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When they began moving ahead with Infosys, the founders took a firm decision that their wives would not be involved in the running of the company.\u00a0There was no luxury, only struggle, day and night.<\/a> They had no car, no phone. There had been days when Murthy did not have any money in his pocket, but he had dreams.\u00a0The first years of Infosys were not smooth. Murthy, Nilekani, Dinesh, Shibulal, and Gopalakrishnan were into writing codes.<\/a> However, they wanted to make an impact and make their presence felt in the American market. \u00a0So, Infosys got its first joint venture partners in Kurt Salmon Associates. But the joint venture collapsed in 1989, leaving Infosys in the lurch.<\/p>\n

“We had nothing after eight years of trying to bring up a company. Those who studied with us had cars and houses,” says Gopalakrishnan.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

When Infosys listed on NASDAQ<\/h3>\n
\"Infosys<\/a>
(Photo Credit: Successtory.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is said that Infosys began getting big breakthroughs from the US market.\u00a0How? The initial foray of Infosys into the US market was through a company called Data Basics Corp as a ‘body-shop’ or on-site developer of software for US customers. Later, Infosys formed a joint venture with Kurt Salmon Associates to handle marketing in the United States. Even today, Infosys derives about two-thirds of its revenue from the United States, serving corporate clients like Reebok, Visa, Boeing, Cisco Systems, Nordstrom and New York Life.<\/p>\n

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Infosys is the largest publicly traded IT services exporter in India, providing services to 315 large corporations, such as GE and Nortel, predominantly in the USA.\u00a0It was the first Indian company to list on the NASDAQ stock exchange in 1999.<\/p>\n

1981-2002: An Aeon of Traditional Headways at Infosys<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\"Narayan<\/a>
(Photo Credit: Infosys Official)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Going by the records, most of the biggies in the realm of Indian corporate have had their fair share of hardships, to begin with. The story of Infosys is no different. Since its inception in the year 1981, there has been a considerable amount of changes in the company\u2019s core functioning body. Further, let us go through the various appointments and attritions behind an indomitable brand of the Indian IT era.<\/p>\n

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The company has visibly remained traditional in its managerial approach until recently. The fact that one of the founders himself headed the company\u2019s operations as the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Narayan Murthy, since the beginning. It was only when Murthy decided to step down in the year 2002 after his 21-year long tenure as the top executive that Nandan Nilekani, one of the co-founders took up the top job at Infosys. By then, the company recorded a revenue worth $400 million.<\/p>\n

\"Murthy<\/a>
(Photo Credit: Pinterest)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although Murthy stepped down as the CEO, he continued as the Chairman and Chief Mentor to the company till the year 2011. However, the year 2003 marked a key milestone in his more than three decades -old career, owing to the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year award.<\/p>\n

2002-2007: An Era of Globalized Dominance of Infosys<\/h5>\n
\"Nandan<\/a>
(Photo Credit: The Indian Express)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Narayan Murthy passed on the Chief Executive office to co-founder Nandan Nilekani, Infosys\u2019 revenue already stood at $500 million in the year 2002. This year also saw a major diversification by the company in the form of Progeon, Infosys\u2019 BPO arm. What followed was a string of global business centers in Netherlands, Switzerland, and Singapore. Moving on, the next couple of years saw major expansions and diversification in terms of the company\u2019s new subsidiaries in China and Australia in tandem with Infosys Consulting Inc.<\/strong> being launched.<\/p>\n

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