Infosys founder Narayana Murthy says THESE traits are most desirable in new recruits

Quick and decisive actions against violation of values in a company deters such incidents from happening again, Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy said on Thursday at the Nasscom Tech and Leadership Forum 2023 in Mumbai.

On Snapdeal Founder Kunal Bahl's question about the traits to look for in new recruits, Murthy said competence and value system were the two most important things.

While competence can be measured easily, the value system of a person is almost impossible to measure in a few hours particularly at the senior-level, Murthy said. "That will only come out in situations where their values are tested...Value system verification is a tough task. I have no solution to that problem. But by taking a quick and decisive action, you send a message to everybody in the company that this will not be tolerated and that's a reasonable deterrent," he added.

The retired chairman of Bengaluru-based tech giant Infosys raised concerns in 2017 over alleged corporate governance lapses at Infosys, which the company denied. It eventually led to CEO & MD Vishal Sikka, the first non-promoter chief executive at the company, quitting in 2017 after almost a year of public dispute with Murthy and other promoter shareholders.

Murthy co-founded Infosys with six fellow computer professionals in 1981. It became the first Indian company to be listed on an American stock exchange.

He served as its CEO from 1981 to 2002, and as its chairman from 2002 to 2011. In 2011, Murthy stepped down as chairman after 30 years with the company but returned in 2013 as executive chairman to hand over the management to a professional CEO in 2014.

In 2014, Infosys appointed Sikka as its CEO & MD, making him the first non-founding CEO & managing director of the IT giant since the company’s inception over three decades ago.

After Sikka's exit and the board shakeup in 2017, retired cofounder Nandan Nilekani returned as the company’s non-executive chairman. He is now the chairman of the company, while Salil Parekh was appointed its MD & CEO in 2018. The Bengaluru-based IT major employs more than 3 lakh people and reported a revenue of Rs 1.2 lakh crore in FY22.

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