Infosys co-founder N.R.Narayana Murthy has muscled back into the IT services company he co-founded 32-years back.

A few hours back N.R. Narayana Murthy was named Executive Chairman and additional director of the company with immediate effect (he “retired” from Infosys in 2011).

Narayana Murthy’s return was a move that was long overdue, in my not-so-humble opinion.

Narayana Murthy – Mad as Hell

Like any proud father, Narayana Murthy takes great pride in Infosys, the company he co-founded in 1981.

The old man almost ejaculated when he heard Infosys’ co-founder and his protege Nandan Nilekani had told me that Infosys would be a Rs 100-crore company in 19XX (I don’t remember the exact year now).

“Did Nandan really tell you that,” Murthy anxiously asked me with that cretinous smile a Brahmin adopts when he wants to inveigle the truth out of you.

When I told him “Yes,” Murthy almost collapsed in sheer joy!

Did Murthy really ejaculate when I confirmed Nandan’s statement to him?

I can’t be sure but I won’t be surprised!

God, how I wish I’d checked the floor! 😉

But I’m sure the floor was wet and slippery with Murthy’s drooling.

I bet the geezer derived greater ecstasy in my response that day than the cumulative orgasms of his lifetime up to that moment.

If ever a human resembled a fox, it was Narayana Murthy that day at a 5-star hotel in a prominent Indian city.

For a few seconds, I was petrified Murthy would bestow a sloppy kiss on my lips!

Was I married then? I can’t remember for sure but Murthy certainly was! 😉

So happy was this Madhwa Brahmin Narayana Murthy that day!

The only other time I saw a similar foxy smile was when a former Indian Prime Minister (before he became Prime Minister) fed me BS for two-hours on Indian caste politics.

I tell all this merely to show the immense pride Murthy takes in his baby, Infosys, and how mad he must be at the company’s current plight.

Narayana Murthy’s arch-rival Azim Premji (of Wipro) was born to wealth and the proverbial silver-spoon in his mouth.

Au contraire, Murthy created wealth for himself and his shareholders.

Premji was also a whining chutiya who once had the audacious temerity to ask me to exercise “restraint.”

Yes, Premji, you were stupid not to set up a bank then! 🙁

Big differences between Murthy and Premji!

The pride Narayana Murthy has in Infosys is hard to explain to people who have not seen the company in its early days.

Narayana Murthy wore a perpetual stupid smile those days to ingratiate himself to all and sundry because he didn’t know who would be useful to him and his company, Infosys.

Man, you should have seen the sweat on his body as he tried hard to peddle the company’s shares during the IPO. Rumor has it he struggled to get it modestly oversubscribed.

And the sweat and toil as Narayana Murthy and Nandan together then worked up to prop up Infosys’ shares.

Yes, Murthy I know about the air-tickets your company bought for XXXXX to Bombay because you thought XXXXX would be useful to prop up the Infosys shares.

Nothing illegal about all that!

Except the f*cking fact you never used the IPO proceeds for the intended purpose spelled out in your prospectus.

That was ethically wrong!

Do you know how mad the IBM folks were that you never purchased the mainframe.

But then great fortunes have always rested on the substrata of falsity.

Read your history, guys!

Kamat Out

K V Kamath stepped down today as Chairman of Infosys’ Board today and is now Lead Independent Director (whatever the hell “lead Independent” means in corporate speak).

Over the last two years, Narayana Murthy has been vegetating as Chairman Emeritus, a pompous sounding title with little power.

Catherine the Great’s worthless husband probably had greater power than Murthy has wielded in the last two years!

In the years since Narayana Murthy stepped down from an executive position from Infosys, the company has lost a lot of its sheen.

Once the darling of employees, shareholders and customers, in recent times Infosys’ stock price has taken a beating, profits are falling, employees are unhappy with the low raises and the company has lost its hallowed reputation with all its “constituencies” (constituencies used to be a favorite word for Murthy at one time).

Today the IT services arc lights in India shine more brightly on rivals TCS, Cognizant and Wipro, and less on Infosys.

Did I tell you that Narayana Murthy still owns about 5% of Infosys?

So you know how pissed the geezer must be!

K.V.Kamat, who stepped down and made room for Narayana Murthy, explained the rationale for Murthy’s comeback today:

The Board has taken this step keeping in mind the challenges that the technology industry and the Company faces and in the interest of all stakeholders, particularly shareholders large and small, who have asked for strengthening of the executive leadership during this challenging time. Murthy’s entrepreneurial and leadership record and the long experience he has had as a technology pioneer makes him eminently qualified to lead the company and provide strategic direction at this point in time.

In plain English, what Kamat is saying that Infosys is getting its ass buggered under CEO Shibulal and desperately praying Narayana Murthy will save the company from any more pain.

Who is Narayana Murthy?

Narayana Murthy is a Brahmin first and Infosys co-founder next.

The man takes great pride in his caste.

Again, nothing wrong with that though the old man wouldn’t want to admit that now in view of his current status as the pater familias of the Indian corporate world.

Murthy’s fame was so great that I recollect former IBM India Marketing VP Venky Raman telling me in an envious tone when he was in Los Angeles, “Arre, Murthy and Vajpayee are on first name terms” (A.B.Vajpayee was Indian Prime Minister then).

A Brahmin in the Indian context is congenitally endowed with a shrewd set of skills necessary for survival in a hostile environment.

Narayana Murthy is a wily Brahmin, who brought together a bunch of fellow workers at Patni Computer Services like Nandan Nilekani, Raghavan (is he alive?), K.Gopalakrishnan etc to found Infosys as a software provider to greedy U.S. bastards (American corporations who were keen on saving money by screwing their employees) in 1981.

In the early days, Infosys was in Pune and then moved to Bangalore (a dingy office in the nouveau riche neighborhood of Koramangala with Nandan Nilekani driving a garish red Maruti 800 those days).

Shibulal – Dummy Variable

Infosys’ current CEO S.D.Shibulal lacks the charisma and mental agility to navigate the company through its current difficult times.

Now that Murthy has returned to the helm, it’s hard to see Shibulal as anything but a dummy variable.

In the days of yore, Shibulal would, like a wounded Samurai, commit harakiri or quietly resign and fade away into the night of obscurity.

Alas, we live in different times!

S D Shibulal continues to be the Managing Director and CEO!

Desperate Move

N.R.Narayana Murthy’s return to the company is a desperate move for the company.

Am I the only one who thinks Murthy’s return is like Steve Jobs’ return to Apple in 1997?

Steve Jobs’ return was pivotal to Apple and its subsequent resurgence (Thank You, Steve for iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad).

Will Murthy do a Jobs at Infosys?

Hard to say.

Unlike Apple, Infosys is not really a products company and rather than the “innovation” factor what now matters is more the execution.

What Nonsense!

What do you think Narayana Murthy’s response was to his appointment as Executive Chairman?

This calling was sudden, unexpected, and most unusual. But, then, Infosys is my middle child. Therefore, I have put aside my plans-in-progress and accepted this responsibility….I intend to do my best to add value to the Company in this challenging situation.

I laughed myself silly and fell off my bed upon reading Murthy’s remark. 😉

Who’s he kidding!

Oh, well, Murthy still has a sense of humor.

Nepotism Play

As if N.R.Narayana Murthy’s return was not odd enough, the geezer is bringing his young son, Rohan Murthy into the company.

With so many MBAs and countless talented folks in the company’s roster, Murthy insisted on his son becoming his Executive Assistant. 🙁

What kind of ethics is that, Narayana Murthy?

The kid, Rohan Murthy, has decent academic credentials (I remember him as toddler running around in knickers).

But Narayana Murthy bringing his son Rohan on board is nothing short of grooming him to take over the reins.

No matter what Narayana Murthy may say in public (Salman Khan claims he was not at the wheels when he murdered a Mumbai pavement dweller!), blood is thicker than water.

Nandan – Soft in the Head?

Nandan, I know you’re busy with that Aadhar project (Indian equivalent of the U.S. Social Security Number) to realize Murthy is grooming his Rohan to take over Infosys not unlike what Premji is doing with his son.

What’s your son gonna do, Nandan? Work at Walmart as a greeter? 😉

Nandan and wife Rohini own a bigger stake than Narayana Murthy!

But have you gone soft in the head or just biding your time until Narayana Murthy fixes Infosys’ problems.

Nandan is a chaalu fella and I’d guess he’s adopting the latter strategy.

Big Question

Bottom line, the big question is can Narayana Murthy pull off a second act?

The jury is still out on that.

But I’m betting on Narayana Murthy!