Vishal Sikka named Infosys CEO and MD; Murthy to step down

Infosys on Thursday announced appointment of Vishal Sikka, a former SAP board member , as CEO and Managing Director, bringing the curtains down on months of suspense over new leader which saw an exodus of senior level executives from India's second largest software services firm.

Sikka, the first outsider as well as not part of the co-founder's club to lead the Bangalore-based firm, will take over as Infosys CEO & MD from S D Shibulal on August 1, 2014.

Co-founder N R Narayana Murthy will also step down as Executive Chairman from June 14. He was brought back from retirement in June last year to head the firm and put it back on a high-growth trajectory at a time when peers like TCS and HCL Tech were out-performing Infosys.

Moreover, S Gopalakrishnan will also voluntarily step down as Executive Vice Chairman with effect from June 14, 2014, Infosys said in a statement.

Sikka, who is considered as the brain behind SAP's Hana platform, will be inducted as whole-time director on the board and CEO & MD (Designate) on June 14, 2014, Infosys said.

Sikka studied computer engineering at MS University Baroda and holds a Phd in Computer Science from Stanford University.

He will succeed Shibulal who will step down from the board on July 31, 2014, much ahead of his retirement next year.

Sikka was previously an executive board member of German tech giant SAP, and was responsible for all products -- from traditional and cloud-based applications to technology and platform products including HANA, analytics, mobile and middleware.

Shares of Infosys were trading higher by nearly 1 per cent on BSE in early trade.