Meet Rajiv Bansal, the next CFO

Not many outside Infosys and the software sector are familiar with Rajiv Bansal. At least, not till yesterday.

Infosys on Friday surprised the Street by naming Bansal, 41, its new chief financial officer (CFO). He will replace the high-profile V Balakrishnan, who, after being at the helm of the company's finances for six years, is to move into a new role and manage its other businesses.

Infosys describes him as "a very bright star in the finance department", with it for 13 years and working under Balakrishnan for the past four years. He is currently vice-president and head of finance, and will take charge as CFO from November 1.

Bansal agrees he has big shoes to fill. "For any financial professional to be the CFO of Infosy is a dream come true. But it's not an easy job and filling Bala's shoes is difficult.

It is an exciting and challenging opportunity. As a company, we are at an execution space and I am confident that our strategy is right for sustainable growth with sufficient margins," he added. 

Bansal joined Infosys in 1999 from Tata Technologies, where he worked for nine months and was a manager in the finance department.

His LinkedIn profile says he worked with Cable & Wireless between 1997 and 1999 as assistant manager, finance. Prior to that, Bansal was a financial controller at ABB for three years.

Asked about his successor, V Balakrishnan said: "This company is all about giving space to individuals who've demonstrated their capability in different places. We found he is an able and young guy, and he wants to come up. At the end of the day, if you have to grow faster, you need to have several engines of growth and there are opportunities for us to grow faster in BPO, Finacle and India."

Bansal went to St Lawrence High School and did his graduation in commerce from St Xavier's College. He is a qualified chartered accountant.

According to Infosys' directors' report, Bansal's gross remuneration was Rs 91,34,752 for the year ended March 31, 2012.