KV Kamath has taken over as non-executive chairman of Infosys starting Monday. He assumes the role at a difficult time with the company?s operating environment deteriorating, amidst visa misuse allegations and growing competition. In an interview with FE?s Goutam Das, Kamath talks about the interventions necessary to remain a leader.

As you take on the new role, what do you think of the challenges that stare at you?

When you look at the life around you, you see the paradigm this industry operates in. There are constant changes. The events of the last two months necessitate a check on everything you have done. I am a believer in the theory of constraints. Constraints that have come up are good to have because constraints make you jump to the next level. It is good because we will do a full check of all the instruments, do whatever course corrections are required, and more.

You are now the company?s brand ambassador. Has the firm?s brand taken a hit in the US because of the grand jury investigations and the Palmer lawsuit on visa misuse?

I don?t want to comment on legal issues. I don?t think Infosys? customers look at it that way. Whatever Infosys has done, it has been put out in the public domain. That is the way it will be. Murthy has set up an organisation that is transparent and open. We will continue to be transparent to all our constituents ? employees, shareholders, the government and customers. There is no going back to any of those principles.

Cognizant is fast catching up with Infosys. What is your plan to ensure that Infy remains ahead?

The first level of strategic response here is not to have any knee-jerk reaction. There is a whole set of opportunity and you need to concentrate on the opportunity and press the accelerator as needed. Look at the opportunity and address it rather than look at a competitor per se.

Some analysts say that Infosys has gone into a shell. The business units don?t have autonomy to make decisions. Is this crippling Infosys?

Infosys is a company that had adapted to discontinuous change almost continuously for 31 years. I do not question its ability to respond. Two, Infosys responded to market pressures and market strategies in a particular way. In the last two years, certain responses that we have made, the market understood as going into a shell. Our response should be to listen to everybody and I am sure Infosys listens very deeply. Then cast a strategy as we go along. In our case, the elements of the strategy were laid out in February and rolled out over the next four to five months. But in the last two months, you had the Europe and US events. Whatever correction is required as a consequence of that is now being looked at. My belief is that Infosys will respond and the response will be to look at wider geographies and verticals and make that constraint into an opportunity. What is the ideal situation? It is to be proactive. In a whole lot of areas we need to plan for obsolescence. I use obsolescence in a very wide sense ? ideas, business structures, practices, areas you focused, concepts that you held. That message is very clear and we need to internalise it and take it forward.

Are you saying there could be businesses you may want to exit?

I think there are opportunities that could be focused on rather than businesses junked at this point in time. For example, if a major vertical is going to be under strain for five years, to me in a larger sense, it is going to shrink as we go along. We need to ensure that there are other options we take up well in time. We will not abandon any vertical. But if you see pain in a particular vertical, we will take steps to ensure that other verticals and geographies and a whole lot of tools are geared to take advantage.

Some market watchers we spoke to said that it is taking a long time now to sign contracts with Infosys. Why is this so?

I don?t think it is true. Maybe, we need to benchmark ourselves with the competition and see how they go about it. But I don?t think it is taking much longer than what it was. I have not seen any evidence or data point on that. But if there is a quicker way to do it, we should do it.

In an environment where verticals like BFSI could shrink, doesn?t it make sense to buy topline?

What Murthy has articulated is that we will not go after acquisitions just for the sake of topline. It has to have a fit and I don?t think there is any change in that strategy. Having said that, the events of the last two months are going to throw up much bigger set of opportunities. We will be prepared to look at them as we go along.