Bharti Airtel's Group Chief Information Officer Jai Menon has exited amidst allegations of violating the company’s code of conduct. Menon, who first joined Airtel in 2002, was responsible for managing Airtel’s IT infrastructure, including awarding contracts to hardware and service vendors.
According to one company source, an internal audit revealed that Menon allegedly had financial interest in some of the entities that were awarded contracts. Bharti Airtel's spokesperson confirmed Menon’s exit but did not specify the reason.
When contacted, Menon dismissed the allegations as being baseless. “I do not have financial interests in any company. I had already decided to exit the company when I turn 50. I want to go back to deep technology research and create patents,” Menon told
When asked about the allegations of being forced to exit, Menon said “I had decided to exit almost a month back. All other rumours are speculative and baseless.” Menon said. “I hope this puts to rest for good any speculation whatsoever.” he added.
Menon had earlier left Airtel twice. In 2005, Menon had quit Bharti to join rival Reliance Communications but came back to the Bharti-fold within a few days. Then again in September 2010 he left to join Vodafone as its Group Technology Strategy Director. In 2011, he headed back to Bharti Airtel.
Key role According to sources, Menon had quit Vodafone due to personal reasons which required him to stay in Delhi.
During his initial stint at Airtel, Menon played a key role in Bharti Airtel’s growth when the company was looking to cut costs amidst falling tariffs. As Bharti’s CIO, he was the architect of $800-million, 10-year deal with IBM, under which Bharti outsourced all its IT requirements to the global giant.
Asked whether he had decided on his next assignment, Menon said that he was going on a sabbatical till January. “I have multiple options including starting my own venture” he said.
thomas.thomas@thehindu.co.in