V. Balakrishnan, CFO, Infosys Technologies believes today, cash is king and liquidity is heaven...
Cash in bank, and accounts receivables of Infosys. Bala says tracking these two figures forms his daily ritual every single day before starting work!
Cash in bank, and accounts receivables of Infosys. Bala says tracking these two figures forms his daily ritual every single day before starting work!
B&E: Critics say that Infy is perhaps not very aggressive on M&As...
VB: We are aggressive but we are not stupid. We are very clear about why we want to do an acquisition – not for adding revenue, but to bring in some strategic benefits to the organisation. It can be growth in a new vertical or geography, growing some other smaller services bigger, or to bring some intellectual capital within the company that we can leverage.
B&E: Kris says for Infosys, there’s a world before 15/9/2008, when the US crash happened, and a world after! What was your viewpoint then?
VB: Those were funny days. Most customers did not know where they were going. We were very clear it was a function of the market. We were sure about the offshore model, as that was the best method for saving.
B&E: The Wall Street disaster?
VB: I predicted the Bear Stearns disaster six months before it happened in a conversation with senior Bank of America executives. I told them how Bear Stearns will crash, given Sterns’ leverage. They did not believe me. That was that. I even predicted much before everybody else how Lehman would collapse. When the crash really happened, one of the BoA top guys called me up and said they couldn’t believe it how I had forecasted the crash. Then these executives took out the news item, framed it and shipped it to me. [The executives printed the words, ‘Bala, The Nostradamus’ below the news. Balakrishnan retains that frame in his cabin till date. See top, next page! Ed]
VB: We are aggressive but we are not stupid. We are very clear about why we want to do an acquisition – not for adding revenue, but to bring in some strategic benefits to the organisation. It can be growth in a new vertical or geography, growing some other smaller services bigger, or to bring some intellectual capital within the company that we can leverage.
B&E: Kris says for Infosys, there’s a world before 15/9/2008, when the US crash happened, and a world after! What was your viewpoint then?
VB: Those were funny days. Most customers did not know where they were going. We were very clear it was a function of the market. We were sure about the offshore model, as that was the best method for saving.
B&E: The Wall Street disaster?
VB: I predicted the Bear Stearns disaster six months before it happened in a conversation with senior Bank of America executives. I told them how Bear Stearns will crash, given Sterns’ leverage. They did not believe me. That was that. I even predicted much before everybody else how Lehman would collapse. When the crash really happened, one of the BoA top guys called me up and said they couldn’t believe it how I had forecasted the crash. Then these executives took out the news item, framed it and shipped it to me. [The executives printed the words, ‘Bala, The Nostradamus’ below the news. Balakrishnan retains that frame in his cabin till date. See top, next page! Ed]
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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