BENGALURU: When Salil Parekh took over as Infosys CEO in 2018, the company was grappling with boardroom turmoil that had shaken investor confidence. Over nine years, he helped transform the company, doubling revenue from $10 billion to $20 billion, securing over $100 billion in large deals, and the foundation for its AI strategy, including through partnerships with OpenAI, Anthropic and Cognition.Never one to chase headlines or make them, Parekh, who retires from the firm in March next year, built a reputation for disciplined execution, reinforcing chairman Nandan Nilekani’s approach of making Infosys “boring” in the best sense – predictable, consistent and dependable. Here are excerpts of an interview with TOI:
Q) Your peers like TCS and HCL have invested in data centres and AI firms. Has Infosys been risk-averse in an era that seems to reward bold bets?
We look at decisions based on what will genuinely help our clients, not just what looks exciting. We moved quickly on digital transformation, from 20% to 60% of our business. We built a large-deals engine – roughly $100 billion in large deals since I’ve been here, and we’ve gone from $10 billion to $20 billion in revenue. We remain one of the fastest growing firms on an organic basis over the last eight years because of these initiatives. But we’re also disciplined – on margin, on free cash flow, on execution – with a good balance sheet that we deploy carefully toward where AI is actually taking us, not just where there’s excitement.
Q) Anthropic, OpenAI, and Microsoft are building enterprise deployment arms and could partner with or acquire mid-sized integrators. Does this worry you?
The labs and tech companies want strong partnerships with Infosys, and we want the same with them. Their own approach validates that services remain essential – if the labs themselves say the foundation model alone won’t do everything, and a ‘deploy co’ is needed, that’s a huge validation for companies like us. We have 300,000 people and 1,800 clients, many relationships spanning 10-20 years, with deep context on those clients’ technology landscapes. That’s a natural advantage over newer entrants with far smaller headcounts.
Q) What is your message to investors who believe AI will fundamentally reshape IT services?
We see AI services as a $300 billion opportunity, and with 8% of our revenue already there, that’s a solid long-term growth prospect. It’s a transformation, like with cloud or digital – you move from a low percentage to a high percentage over time, and the whole business benefits. Over a longer horizon, I see real benefit from AI services becoming a large part of the company.
Q) How would you define your legacy, and what would you have done differently?
Having the opportunity to lead Infosys has been a huge privilege. The business, as I said earlier, has done really well. But one of the most important elements has been the people and leadership within the company – we’ve had a stable, cohesive team. The ‘One Infosys’ approach and the culture – which today feels more reminiscent of what it was maybe five to ten years before I joined – have been a huge positive.
Q) Is that stability part of why you didn’t look outside for your successor?
We have incredible internal leaders. The board looked at the process and the people and given the internal leadership team we’d built over the years, that became the right place to find the next CEO. He’s (Ashiss Kumar Dash) an amazing leader, I’ve worked with him almost since I started, when he took on his current role. He’s been with the company for 30-plus years, is strong with people and clients, and has built a nicely balanced portfolio across growth, margin, and industries.
