Infosys effects big shuffle, V Balakrishnan to head Lodestone

Infosys has replaced its subsidiary Lodestone's Chairman BG Srinivas with V Balakrishnan, its former chief financial officer.

Before heading Infosys's BPO and Finacle operations, Balakrishnan served as the firm's Chief Financial Officer. He is also a director on Lodestone's board.

Srinivas, a board member too, was head of the company's Europe and global financial services and insurance.

Infosys in a statement said: "V Balakrishnan has been appointed the Chairman of Lodestone and BG Srinivas will continue to be a key member of the Board of Lodestone." The company termed the move as a regular shuffling of portfolios.

The change assumes importance in the backdrop of Infosys calling back its founder N R Narayan Murthy as the executive chairman following the firm's repeated below-expected performance and its loosing market share to rivals like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Cognizant and HCL Technologies.

Infosys said: "This move is part of the regular re-allocation of portfolios to meet the company's strategic objectives. The integration of Lodestone is progressing as per plan."

The company acquired Swiss SAP implementation firm Lodestone in October last year for 330 million Swiss Francs (about Rs 1,932 crore), a move aimed at strengthening its consulting practice and increasing revenues from its European operations.

The acquisition, an all cash deal, is the biggest by Infosys so far.

Headquartered in Zurich, Lodestone advises international companies on strategy and process optimisation, and provides business transformation solutions enabled by SAP's enterprise solutions.

It posted revenues of 221 million Swiss Francs (about Rs 1,317 crore) in 2012 and has a headcount of 1,200 as of January 2013.

In its annual report for 2012-13, Infosys said the board of directors of Lodestone include BG Srinivas, Ronald Hafner, V Balakrishnan, Stephen R Pratt and UB Pravin Rao.

With inputs from PTI