After Vishal Sikka resigned from his post of chief executive officer and managing director of Infosys last Friday, August 18, U B Pravin Rao was appointed as the interim CEO of the IT giant. Sikka said that he was resigning as he was tired of "defending against unrelenting, baseless/malicious and increasingly personal attacks."
Also read: Will Vishal Sikka's exit derail Infosys' plans of hiring in US?
Later, the board of Infosys also spoke in favour of Sikka and said that he had resigned due to "Mr. Murthy's continuous assault."
Between all the blame game, Pravin Rao sent an email to the employees of the Bengaluru-based firm and said that while Sikka had moved on, the show at Infosys must go on.
He explained that Infosys will "continue to execute on the strategy we have laid out for ourselves."
Even though Sikka has often been blamed for many resignations at the firm and former CFO TV Mohandas Pai even accused him of blaming co-founder Narayana Murthy of interference to hide his own "bad performance," Sikka is known to be quite popular within the organisation.
Rao too said that the firm will miss Sikka, and "wish[es] him only the very best for the future."
Here's the full text of his email to the staff of Infosys:
Dear Infoscian,
On Friday we all heard from Vishal about his decision to move on from Infosys. While we respect his decision, we will miss him and wish him only the very best for the future. He will stay on board as Executive Vice Chairman, till March 2018, to help me make a smooth transition. Despite these changes, Infosys will stay on course.
We will continue to execute on the strategy that we have laid out for ourselves. We have already seen how our new services are gaining traction. And how our embrace of automation is helping us become more productive in the work that we do, and how it is creating more and more opportunity for us to focus our energies toward innovation- both for ourselves and our clients.
In fact, you have achieved so much over the past several quarters. Strengthened by movements like Zero Distance, you have begun an exciting journey of innovation relying on your creative confidence. You must continue the incredible work. We must all continue the work we do to create the value out clients are counting on us to deliver. It is the huge responsibility we carry. That's why there can be no disruptions to the work we set out to do every day. As has always been, the foundation for this will continue to be our culture, our values—especially our ability to learn, and do more—much more to create real value – than simply execute the jobs we are handed.
This won't always be easy in the days ahead. Not with the intense attention on us. This can be unsettling. But only if we let it. And that we must not. If you think about it, this is not the first time Infosys has been up against a tough challenge. Rough economic conditions, near-impossible projects, leadership exits, public debates about our future, we have seen it all. And there hasn't been a single occasion- not even a single one- from which we did not emerge stronger, wiser and most importantly still together as one team Infosys.
We can do it again and we will. Helping each other, when it is needed, to stay focused on what matters- our commitments, our clients, our vision of who we really are.
Having learned so much, having done so much, having come so far, we can clearly see the road ahead lies long and winding but leads to greatness. I want for us to stay the course. I know you want it too, for yourself and for your Infosys. That's why I know I can rely on your continued support. And you can in turn, rely on your leadership, and on my personal support.
I will share as much as I can in the days to follow. Days we'll soon look back to as a time when all of Infosys came together in unwavering faith, resolute perseverance, and unflinching focus.
In the meantime, please don't hesitate to write in to me and post questions of thoughts you may have. Let's stay in touch.
