Nilekani as Businessman of the Year: Forbes Asia
New Delhi, Dec 1: IT giant Infosys Technologies which completed 25 years of operation this year has added another feather in its cap with its CEO Nandan Nilekani being honoured as the 'Businessman of the Year 2006' by Forbes Asia magazine.
The
51-year
old
co-founder
of
the
Bangalore-based
Infosys
has
been
awarded
with
the
title
for
his
track
record
in
keeping
his
company
ahead
of
its
peers
in
the
global
outsourcing
phenomenon.
The
most
recent
quarter
was
its
best
on
record,
prompting
analysts
to
raise
their
earnings
estimates
for
the
year,
Forbes
said.
Infosys
revenue
reached
746
million
dollars
for
the
three
months
ended
September
2006,
up
13
per
cent
from
the
previous
quarter
and
up
42
per
cent
from
the
same
period
a
year
ago.
The net income of the IT giant reached 199 million dollars for the quarter, up 14 per cent from the previous three months and up 44 per cent from the year-ago period. ''Mr Nilekani is an outstanding example of what the Asian entrepreneurial spirit can achieve. More remarkable is his leadership at Infosys, which has been influential in reshaping and levelling the global business landscape,'' Mr Tim Ferguson, Editor of Forbes Asia said.
Mr Nilekani has been chief executive since 2002 but took charge of Infosys after chief mentor Narayan Murthy retired in August this year. ''His is a work in progress. Mr Nilekani is spending 140 million dollars on training this year and has built a 300-million-dollar center in Mysore to mould new hires into 'Infoscions','' the magazine said.
After
hiring
more
people
in
a
single
year
than
most
companies
have
on
the
entire
payroll,
Mr
Nilekani
says,
''We
have
to
deploy
them
and
train
them
and
do
it
in
a
way
to
make
sure
quality
is
not
compromised
in
any
way.
While
we
are
growing,
we
also
want
to
morph
ourselves.''
Every
time
Infosys
spreads
its
wings,
it
knocks
some
established
company
or
process
aside.
''We
have
created
a
new,
destructive
business
model,''
the
CEO
said.
''Business
is
being
taken
away
from
legacy
players
and
given
to
us
because
we
are
better.''
Bigger
and
bigger
clients
of
the
sort
that
used
to
rely
on
old-line
companies
like
America's
IBM,
EDS
and
Accenture
are
increasingly
going
with
Infosys.
For
instance,
ABN-AMRO
recently
chose
the
company
for
a
five-year
global
outsourcing
contract
worth
250
million
dollars,
the
magazine
added.
At
the
end
of
September,
Infosys
had
34
clients
paying
more
than
50
million
dollars
a
year,
up
from
14
a
year
before.
According
to
the
magazine,
Infosys'
two
big
domestic
competitors
--Tata
Consultancy
Services
and
Wipro
Technologies
--
have
also
done
well
as
the
industry
expanded
dramatically,
but
in
the
past
year
Infosys
has
been
outdistancing
them
by
growing
faster.
Indeed,
Infosys
is
setting
its
sights
on
competitors
outside
India
--
the
big
multinational
IT
consulting
and
outsourcing
firms
that
have
been
rushing
to
move
jobs
to
India
to
lower
their
costs.
Whether
Mr
Nilekani
can
pull
off
his
ambitious
goals
of
growing
and
transforming
an
already
wildly
successful
company
rests
on
the
shoulders
of
the
66,150
'Infoscions'
whose
average
age
is
26
years
as
70
per
cent
of
Infosys'
new
employees
are
hired
upon
graduation
from
college,
Forbes
added.