IITs have given us many geniuses who went to lead a few of the biggest companies in the country. A good proportion of successful companies in India have always been spearheaded by geniuses from IIT. One such IIT graduate that was once leading a tech giant that acquired the company where Narayana Murthy used to work before he founded Rs 647000 crore Infosys. The IIT graduate had an annual salary package of around Rs 45 crore before he was fired from the company. Currently serving as a board member in several companies, the IIT graduate that we are talking about is Phaneesh Murthy. Former CEO of iGATE Corporation, Phaneesh Murthy’s overall compensation in 2012 was around Rs 45 crore before he was fired in 2013.
Born in a middle class family in Bangalore, Phaneesh Murthy received B.Tech Degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras. After his graduation, he went on to receive PGDMgt from IIM, Ahmedabad. He started working for Sonata Software after graduating in 1987. After working there for half a decade, he moved to Narayana Murthy’s Infosys. Over the years, he held various positions in the organisation before he departed after two women filed lawsuit against him.
After founding Primentor and Quintant Services Limited, Phaneesh Murthy went on to join iGATE Global Solutions Limited in August 2003 after it acquired Quintant. He is credited for restructuring iGATE and helping the company to acquire Patni Computer Systems for 1.22 billion dollars. For those who are unaware, Patni Computer Systems is the former employer of Narayana Murthy and it was double the size of iGATE when it was acquired. The deal made iGATE one of the largest IT companies in India. Phaneesh Murthy was fired from iGATE after another lawsuit was labelled against him by a subordinate employee.
He is currently serving as the CEO of Primentor, a consulting agency that mentors senior executives to promote hyper-growth.
