For a man who prefers hot water to clear his throat, a practice inculcated since childhood, SD Shibulal must have felt a lump in his throat while taking the decision to hang up his shoes.

Shibulal presided over Infosys at a time which was arguably the toughest in the company’s more than three-decade-long history. The man who is credited with crafting the 3.0 strategy, which is a departure from the then existing strategy of billing people for the hours put into software projects and stressed on one third of revenues coming from products, evoked mixed responses from some quarters, who panned the strategy saying it was not yielding results.

Even though Shibulal had his mentor and executive chairman NR Narayana Murthy defending him, his critics pointed out that the two fiscal years of single digit growth and losing ground to peers such as Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant and HCL Technologies clearly showed chinks in 3.0.

But an adamant Shibulal kept defending his strategy. In an interaction with Business Line in September 2012, he had said when he took a decision, it was based on certain guidelines, value system and data points.

But with Infosys’ performance taking a nose dive, it became increasingly difficult for Shibulal to explain the reason for sticking to his 3.0 strategy. Brokerage firm CLSA, in an unprecedented move, wrote an open letter to the management, saying investors are worried about the adverse impact the company’s strategy was having on growth. It added there was a difference between the company’s performance and the guidance and wondered why it was holding on to its huge pile of cash of about $4 billion when it could be put to better use like making an acquisition or returning it to shareholders through dividends.

Shibulal countered this by stating aggression is not about buying companies but about the right kinds of companies. As an example, he pointed to the acquisition of Lodestone, a Swiss company, during his leadership.

As the Alleppey-born Shibulal prepares to walk into the sunset, he must be hoping that Infosys returns to its “under promise, over deliver” strategy, which seemed so fool-proof at one point of time.

Related Topics