Sex scandal grounds Phaneesh Murthy’s comeback stint with iGate

An IIT-IIM alumnus,Murthy rose through the ranks of Infosys to become the head of its global operations. The 49-year-old techie-turned-business executive,however,fell from grace in 2002 when Infosys forced him quit the company after a charge of sexual harassment by his personal assistant.

After Infosys,Murthy founded a company Quintant Services that was bought by Nasdaq-listed iGate. In 2011,he teamed up with buyout firm Apax Partners to conduct iGate’s $1.2 billion purchase of much-bigger Indian rival Patni Computer Systems. iGate shares,and revenues,are estimated to have more than quadrupled since Murthy joined the company in mid-2003.

The stock has gained 4 per cent in 2013,lagging the S&P 500 IT consultancy subindex,which is up 8.8 per cent,according to Reuters data. Murthy was widely being touted as the ‘comeback man’,spearheading iGate’s sizzling growth story,only to be disgraced with what appears to be a replay of the 2002 episode.