CIOL:Au revoir Desai!

Vijay Merchant, one of the legends of Indian cricket, once commented: “A top level sportsman should retire when the world asks ‘why’? And not when the world starts asking you ‘why not’?”

Merchant’s opinion would be appropriate not only for sportsperson, but also for corporate honchos.

One person who seems to have especially heeded this advice seems to be Ashank Desai, the founder and executive chairman of the Rs. 701 crore Mastek, who recently decided to hang up his boots. Returning from a sabbatical, Desai has decided to take on a non-executive role.

Consequently, the Mastek Board decided to appoint Sudhakar Ram as the chairman and managing director of Mastek Ltd., in addition to his current role as Group CEO.

Not the first among the equals

Established around the same time as Infosys, Mastek is one of the first few Indian IT companies. Desai has been hailed as one of the pioneers of the Indian IT industry and was involved in the founding of Nasscom as well.

Mastek has many firsts to its credit, namely, the first company to develop ERP in India; first Indian IT company to be listed on the stock exchanges at a premium price; first Indian IT company to offer ESOPs (Employee Stock Option Plan); first IT Solutions company in the world to be assessed at P-CMM Level 3. And in spite of all these firsts, the company could never really break out from the Tier II club.

Though, while his peers like S. Ramadorai (TCS), Narayana Murthy (Infosys), Azim Premji (Wipro) and others captured the imagination of the country with their resounding success, Desai more or less remained in the shadows. A lot of this could be attributed to the success of Mastek, even after being in existence for over two decades, the company’s revenues are hovering around the $150 million mark.

Desai had attributed this to the fact that while the Infosys, TCS and the Wipros were targeting the overseas market; Mastek was looking at the Indian market. Yet, there was a course correction of sorts as Mastek started to look at the export market in a big way, specially the European market.

In fact, this is one of the things that Desai is most happy about. “I am proud of laying the foundation in European and Asian market for the company. It was badly needed in the 1990s. Today U.K. accounts for a large chunk of over revenues.”

Making way

Desai’s move is quite reminiscent of way Naryanana Murthy made way for Nandan Nilekani. Desai was on a ‘sabbatical’ for the past year or more. Though, he was present at all the industry events and was also lobbying with the government on various issues like reservations in premiere institutions, he had given up the running of the company to Ram. Ram had taken over as the CEO in place of Desai in 2003.

“It is important to make way for the future. I was conscious about nurturing the next generation leadership in the company. For the past few years, I had delegated my everyday work to Sudhakar Ram. One can say that I was preparing for this day,” adds Desai.

“Ram is a great leader and has driven Mastek to new heights. He has the courage to take brave decisions and is a real embodiment of Mastek values,” he says.

Time for Mastek 2.0?

Having established itself fairly well in the insurance domain and the European market, Mastek is looking at growing its clout in the coming years. The company has won wide acclaim for its work done to solve the traffic congestion in London.

“We are moving to the next level. Mastek is moving up the value chain and transforming itself into a solutions company and not merely an outsourcing company. Solutions is a big niche and we intend to tap this market in the coming days,” says Desai.

He, however, admits it is not an easy change: “It is a big challenge as one requires domain expertise and you are competing with the best in the world. But, I am quite confident that Mastek will be able to make that change.”

Post retirement

Being a non-executive chairman does not mean that Desai will be not be keeping an eye on the company. “I will be involved with Mastek in a variety of ways, I am still the major stakeholder and will continue to propagate Mastek and its value across different geographies. I will also be more involved with the CSR activities of the company. I will be like a conscience keeper for Mastek now,” says Desai.

"As chairman and managing director, Ashank has been at the helm of affairs for over a decade, overseeing Mastek grow from a small domestic player to a global solutions company,” states Ram, while referring to Desai’s long tenure.

One thing is for certain. There is a lot more to come from the veteran of IT industry.

© CyberMedia News

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