In another huge setback to Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka’s strategy to strengthen the company’s new digital and innovation capabilities, Yusuf Bashir, MD of the $500-million Infosys Innovation Fund, has resigned.
The MIT-alumnus had worked closely with Sikka at SAP as VP of new products before joining Infosys in March 2015.
Together with another former SAP executive, Ritika Suri, Bashir was to help Infosys take a leap into the new digital world that has become important to global clients. Bashir, based in Palo Alto, had the mandate to identify and invest in early-stage companies doing cutting-edge work in areas including AI, machine learning, big data, cloud and analytics.
Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO of Everest Group, feels Bashir was caught between Sikka’s stated intent to use acquisitions to drive the digital transformation of Infosys and the board which micromanaged and second guessed decisions. He was not nearly as comfortable with an aggressive acquisition strategy. “This was compounded by the decision to return cash to shareholders and focus on keeping margins high,” he said.
