Narayana Murthy turns nostalgic at his last Infosys AGM

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Indian IT bellwether Infosys’ founding chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy turned nostalgic on Saturday as he presided for the last time over the blue chip company’s 30th annual general meeting (AGM) here.

“My role as chairman of the board concludes on August 20, 2011, the day I reach the age of 65. This is in keeping with the policy I laid down in 1981,” Murthy told about 1,000 shareholders who listened to him as he went down the memory lane.

“It is not easy for me to deliver my last address at this forum. As I speak, a mosaic of images from the past whiz through my mind. The list seems endless and it would be difficult to narrate them all today,” Murthy said, evoking a thunderous applause from the investors at the Christ College auditorium. Noting that his three decades long journey with the company had been an integral part of his life, Murthy said he had been the number one actor in every major decision taken so far.

“I have rejoiced at every significant milestone of the company. I have commiserated in every false step that was taken. The best analogy that I can think of for this separation is that of one’s daughter getting married and leaving her parent’s home.”

“Yes, the parents will be there when she needs them and they will be happy that she is starting a new life in an exciting new environment,” Murthy recalled. Commenting on the global software major’s resilient performance in fiscal 2010-11, Murthy said the year under review was of determined performance, recovery, consolidation and new explorations for the management and its employees worldwide. “The global economic climate posted several challenges but we made the best use of our resources and abilities for growth.

Though we projected a revenue growth of 9-11 per cent at the beginning of the fiscal (FY 2011) in rupee terms, we achieved a growth of 21 per cent ($6.4 billion) and a net income of 14 per cent ($1.5 billion),” Murthy pointed out. Observing that the global economy and the IT industry have changed significantly over the past few years, requiring the management to change its business strategy and realign its agenda with that of its clients, the chairman said the company was at the threshold of yet another breakthrough in its journey towards adding greater value for its clients. “We have unveiled Infosys 3.0 as our new brand positioning, marking our transition to a next-generation, global consulting-and-services company from a technology-solutions firm for proactively helping clients build their enterprises of tomorrow,” Murthy noted. Being his last address to the management, employees and thousands of its investors, Murthy said there were a few crucial things the company had to do in future to uphold its strong values, global reputation for integrity, transparency and corporate governance.

“We have to be firm in pursuing our values; recognise our weaknesses; embrace meritocracy, be open-minded about learning from people better than us, learn from our mistakes and not repeat them; be humble, honest and courteous; be firm in taking quick decisions even though some of them may be unpleasant in the short term, benchmark with the global best in every dimension, and encourage innovation at every level to perform at global levels,” Murthy exhorted the new managers and the shareholders.