Phaneesh Murthy, an Indian technology businessman, started his career after graduating from IIM Ahmedabad. However, his career journey wasn’t stable, as he faced several sexual harassment cases at his career peak. Let’s explore his journey from the heights to the bottom.
Table of Contents
Phaneesh Murthy: Early Life and Education.
Phaneesh Murthy, a renowned technology businessman, comes from a middle-class family in Bangalore, Karnataka. He did his schooling from Bishop Cotton Boys’ School, Bangalore, before achieving his B.Tech degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras.
After earning a PGDM degree from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad in 1987, he set out on his career. Initially, Murthy joined Sonata Software and contributed for the whole 5 years, and then quit to join Infosys.
Infosys: a Sexual Harassment Case.
Phaneesh Murthy joined Infosys after leaving Sonata Software, and Infosys started leveraging incredible worldwide projects within a year of his joining. This led Murthy to see his career growth within Infosys, serving across various high posts, including Worldwide head of Sales and Marketing, Communications, and Product Solutions Group.
Murthy, as the Worldwide head of Sales and Marketing, increased the organization’s revenue significantly from $2 million in revenues to $700 million within 10 years. Murthy was a superstar at Infosys till a sexual harassment case in 2002, which destroyed his career and led him to quit Infosys.
This Allegation was imposed by Murthy’s executive secretary, and Infosys employee, Reka Maximovitch, a Bulgarian American National. She complained of Sexual Harassment and wrongful termination of employment.
Infosys forced Mr. Murthy to quit despite his strongly denying the accusation throughout the proceedings and paid $3 million for an out-of-court settlement with Reka Maximovitch. Infosys paid $570,000 to Mr Murthy as part of the final settlement of his dues.
Another Case As iGATE CEO and Managing Director.
After quitting Infosys, Mr. Murthy didn’t sit silent, he founded another company named Quintant Services Limited, a global business services provisioning company. Quintant’s remarkable success caught attention of iGATE Global Solutions. iGATE acquired Quintant in late 2003, and Phaneesh Murthy became the CEO of the company in 2008 due to incredible performance.
Under Murthy’s leadership, iGATE saw a remarkable expansion, either in revenue or in acquisitions. Some examples verify this fact. Murthy, as a CEO, converted iGATE from a mid-sized IT firm with -20% operational loss to a company earning $1.2 billion in annual revenue.
Moreover, one of his biggest achievements was to handle the iGATE acquisition of Patni Computer Systems in 2011 for $1.22 billion. Before iGATE was a mid-sized company but this deal made the company one of the biggest IT companies in India.
But this didn’t last long. In 2013, iGATE sacked Murthy due to a lawsuit of sexual harassment similar to that in 2002. This lawsuit was filed against Murthy by a subordinate employee, Aracli Roiz. She alleged that she was pregnant with Murthy’s child and said that when Murthy discovered this, he pressured Roiz to have an abortion. When she refused, she was pressured to leave the company.
As of reports, since then, Murthy has left all and has started to focus on entrepreneurship and consulting. He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Primentor, a consulting agency that mentors senior executives to promote rapid-growth strategy.
Phaneesh Murthy Seud iGATE.
Getting rejected from iGATE, Mr. Murthy couldn’t digest the insult, and sued the company in December 2013. He challenged the basis of being terminated. He even argued that iGATE had information about his relationship with the subordinate employee, and the reporting policy had been used improperly to terminate him.
He even disclosed that iGATE withheld vested stocks due to him that were worth $17 million.
Phaneesh Murthy: “I regret the affair, “He Said.
According to the Times of India 2013 report, when the Question “Do you regret what happened?” was asked to Murthy. In response to this question, Murthy said, “Without question. The whole thing was very regrettable. The mistake I made was in stepping out of my marriage. I have to work on my relationship at home, and that’s what I’m doing. We will see where that leads, and that’s my priority number 1. And that’s the reason I haven’t accepted full-time employment anywhere.”
You can click here to read more questions asked by Murthy regarding to 2013 matter.
Read This Also: Elon Musk’s xAI Buys X, Musk’s Social Media platform For 33B Dollar. Why? Know The Full Story.
