For many, it was a surprising twist after weeks of speculation about who will take the top job of one of India's most reputed companies.

​On Saturday evening, ​Infosys​ seemed to have ​pulled a rabbit out of its hat by appointing Salil Parekh​, 52, ​as its CEO and MD​. Industry watchers believe that Parekh was in fact being considered for the top job at Capgemini because of his impeccable record at the French multinational consultancy firm, after 17 years in Capgemini, growing up to be a Board member of the French IT services major with revenues of Euro 12.54 billion.

While Infosys had reached out to former Infoscions like Ashok Vemuri and BG Srinivas to take over the ​CEO's role, ​in addition to some existing Infoscions, the appointment of Parekh is seen ​as someone who can rebuild the Infosys culture and at the same time take all the stakeholders along ​with him ​after months of​turbulence involving the management and the first chairman and co-founder, N R Naryana Murthy. It led to the resignation of a few board members and Vishal Sikka as the CEO.

​The current chairman of the board, Nandan Nilekani in a statement said that Parekh was picked because of his ​strong track record of executing business turnarounds and managing very successful acquisitions​. ​

Parekh, who is ​known for his affable nature has a strong track record. His educational credentials such as an IIT Mumbai alumni to degrees from Cornell University, in addition to responsibility for a unit that contributed about half of group revenues tells one part of the story. “He is a calm and patient person,” said Kris Lakshmikanth, CEO, Head Hunters India, who has interacted with him professionally in the past. This calmness reflects partly in the a Nasscom presentation, where Parekh had outlined his strategy.

These included things like Stay Calm, Market discontinuities make leaders -- winners and losers, Look outside, not inside -- spend more time in the market with clients, Be truthful with yourself and your people -- difficult to solve a problem without first acknowledging it, Hire good people, remove non-performing managers, Keep cash ready and use shares for acquisitions, Drive operational excellence above other priorities, Prepare the business to benefit first and fast when the market recovers and Stay calm, don’t panic.

Parekh is also known to have another side which is his ability to make acquisitions and make them work. In 2015, he led from the front for the acquisition of i-Gate for $4 billion. When he quit Capgemini it had a workforce of around 1 lakh in India and 190,000 globally​.

Capgemini CEO, Paul Hermelin ​in a short and crisp statement thanked Parekh's contribution to the growth of the company in both the US and India.

​Parekh's ​focus in the US, where Infosys gets in excess of 70 per cent of its revenues and which is now in the Trump era of strict curbs on H1-B visas and the changing dyn​ami​cs of outsourcing and offshoring business stares at his face. “He will have to look at tuck​-​in acquisitions, similar to what Accenture has done if the business has to grow,” says Lakshmikanth. Another factor where ​​Parekh's expertise will be tested is to get deeper into $100 million clients, some​thing ​which the company has been struggling for the last few years.

Then there is the cultural fit part, an area which assumes huge significance as co-founders believe strongly that the CEO should be more actively involved in Bengaluru, where the company is based. “There are individual business heads who can face clients and the CEO can always step in when necessary. There is no need to be based in the US as the bulk of the employees sit out of India,” said a former Infosys top executive.

While zen-like presentation is one part of the story, Parekh may have to re-read many of his mantras ​ before he emabrks on a journey which is full of challenges. ​

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