Meet Phaneesh Murthy, was earning Rs 45 Crores salary, got fired from Narayana Murthy’s Infosys due to…,he currently leads…

Phaneesh Murthy is a businessman who made a significant impact on the IT industry but also caught in several controversies over the years. He was born into a middle-class family in Bengaluru. He did a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras and a PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad. In 1987 he started working at Sonata Software, where he became an expert in sales and marketing.

In the early 1990s, he joined Infosys and became the company’s Global Sales Head. During his tenure Infosys grew faster and earned revenue from USD 2 million to around USD 700 million. He was considered as a strong candidate who can succeed Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy.

However, Phaneesh’s career at Infosys came to an end in 2002 due to allegations against him of sexual harassment. His executive secretary, Reka Maximovitch filed a lawsuit accusing him of sexual harassment and wrongful termination. After the controversy he resigned in 2003 and Infosys paid him USD 570,000 as part of a settlement. According to media reports, the company also paid USD 3 million (around INR 15 crore at the time) for an out-of-court settlement related to the case.

After Infosys, Phaneesh started a new journey and founded Quintant Services. The company was acquired by iGATE Global Solutions in 2003. After the acquisition, Phaneesh became the CEO and President of iGATE. The company acquired Patni Computer Systems for USD 1.22 billion after which iGATE was considered as top IT firms inIndia.

However once again Phaneesh’s career at iGATE ended in controversy. In 2013, he was dismissed from the company after another sexual harassment lawsuit. Since then, he has been working on entrepreneurship and consulting. He now leads Primentor which is a consulting firm that advises senior executives. 

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