Indian IT industry rocked by CXO-level shockers in 2023

IT services industry seems to be in a position of constant churn. Post-Covid, the phenomenon was related to IT engineers, who quit in droves for better pay packages. 2023 seems to be a year when this has spread to the top level management of IT firms. The year has so far seen more than 25 CXO-level exits in large IT firms, including TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and Cognizant, among others. The latest surprise exit came from Infosys. In a late evening exchange filing, Infosys informed the market on Monday that its CFO Nilanjan Roy has resigned. This has caught the market by surprise as this sudden movement was unexpected. Roy, who joined the company in 2018, has been instrumental in steadying the ship of Infosys during the tumultuous years of the pandemic and beyond. Roy and the incumbent CEO Salil Parekh were considered to be a good team, who were able to get things back at Infosys. Deputy CFO Jayesh Sanghrajka will replace Roy in March. This news came a few days after Wipro announced the resignation of its chief growth officer, Stephanie Trautman.

So far, this year, Indian IT firms have seen unusual CXO-level movement. Infosys has witnessed around 10 top-level exits. Earlier Mohit Joshi and Ravi Kumar S, both presidents at the Bengaluru-headquartered company tendered their resignations and joined rivals Tech Mahindra and Cognizant, respectively. Its chief human resources officer Richard Lobo has also quit. Similarly, Wipro has also seen close to dozen CXO-level exits this year. Two months back, Jatin Dalal stepped down as the company’s chief financial officer. He was replaced by Aparna Iyer in September. Similarly, COO Sanjeev Singh, Americas 2 CFO Nithin V Jaganmohan, India head Satya Easwaran, and iDEAS business head Rajan Kohli also exited the company. Even market leader TCS has seen the exit of top executives, including the big surprise from Rajesh Gopinathan, who stepped down as the CEO. Sources in the know said these top level exits are not limited to large firms but are affecting mid-tier IT firms.

Such abrupt exits from the top deck send out a message loud and clear-as the going becomes tough with demand environment becoming weaker, differences within the management ladder are emerging, particularly with regard to steering the ship.

While there are differences on how the pricing should be done, top leaders are not on the same page on how large deals should be approached. Margin protection is another controversial subject on which there is huge boardroom debate. Apart from these factors, even top level executives are looking for greener pastures in terms of compensation as bonus payout becomes lesser in existing companies. All in all, as the going gets tough, Indian IT firms are likely to see many more such high-profile departures in coming quarters.