Infosys has ended months of uncertainty about its leadership by hiring a top executive from rival Capgemini as its new CEO.
Salil Parekh will take up his new role on January 2, the global IT outsourcing firm said in a statement.
The 53-year-old Capgemini veteran is only the second Infosys CEO who wasn’t one of the company’s founders.
His predecessor, Vishal Sikka, was also an outsider. He resigned in August following a public spat with some of the founders.
In his resignation statement, Sikka slammed “false, baseless, malicious and increasingly personal attacks” on the company’s leadership, an apparent reference to criticism from Infosys founders such as N R Narayana Murthy.
Parekh now has the task of steadying the ship at India’s second biggest tech firm, while also dealing with pressures in one of the company’s biggest markets.
Infosys is one of the top recipients of the H-1B work visa, which President Trump has sought to restrict. The company announced earlier this year that it would hire 10,000 new workers in the United States.
Infosys co-founder and former CEO Nandan Nilekani, who was made chairman after Sikka’s exit, said the company was “delighted” by Parekh’s appointment.
Investors were relieved, and Infosys shares closed nearly 3% higher in Mumbai on Monday.
Parekh, who has been at Capgemini for 25 years, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He was most recently tasked with spearheading the company’s application and cloud computing services in North America, Asia and the U.K.
