Infosys CEO contender BG Srinivas puts in papers

He may have been less articulate than Ashok Vemuri, but Bangalore Gangaiah Srinivas, popular as just BG, was a confident man. He walked briskly, much like NR Narayana Murthy, hopped from one meeting to another, greeted everyone with a smile and whenever questions of occupying the corner office came up, had a ready answer. "Infosys has many contenders. I am happy to be one of them," he once told this reporter when quizzed about his chances.

Infosys on Wednesday announced that Srinivas, a board member, has put in his papers. He had been with the company since 1999. This is the third Infosys CEO hopeful to quit after Chairman Narayana Murthy's return to the company - Ashok Vemuri and V. Balakrishnan being the other two. While Vemuri went on to lead IGATE, Balakrishnan joined politics.

Srinivas was a people's person and was said to be favoured by current CEO S.D. Shibulal over Ashok Vemuri. Both Shibu and Srinivas go back a long way-in 2004, when the Europe head of Infosys quit, Shibu turned to Srinivas who was then running Enterprises Services in Bangalore. Srinivas decided on taking up the offer in just five minutes. A risk-taker, he never has a problem in relocating to new geographies. "In Infosys I have been through relocations across continents three times. I moved to the US in 2002, then moved to Bangalore, and a year later to Europe," he told Business Today in 2011.

While Vemuri was good at strategy, Srinivas' strength was delivery. But he did get an opportunity to head the company's biggest vertical. In 2011, Srinivas was appointed Global Head of Financial Services and Insurance business, where he strategised on the changes required and put in more focus on insurance as a sub-vertical.

"There is a large role for consulting, innovation and our platforms play in BFSI," he told Business Today soon after taking over. He was parroting the company's new Infosys 3.0 strategy that never worked.

The big question now is who will make Infosys work in the absence of both Srinivas and Vemuri. An outsider?