Syntel: Popular President and CEO leaves on bad terms
By Annie the Snoop

Over the last six months, Techgoss had published a series of exclusive reports giving details of all that was happening inside BPO Syntel.  One report showed how that in the recent past Syntel was overly reliant on couple of key clients.  Techgoss had also reported on the movements of senior HR people at Syntel.

Soon after these Techgoss reports were published, Syntel started monitoring all emails and communications to outside parties to identify the leaker.

On Feb 2, 2010, Techgoss had reported on the sudden and bitter exit of President and CEO Keshav Murugesh whom the markets credit with being the key to Syntel’s recent success.  The exit was so bitter and final that Keshav’s highly regarded personal secretary Reena Rodrigues also went with his. Under Keshav’s watch, Syntel made it to Forbes ‘200 Best Small Companies’.

When Keshav left, a Syntel spokesperson told they media that their President and CEO had left for ‘personal reasons to pursue other opportunities’.  The company quickly named Mr. Prashant Ranade as the new President and CEO.

But my source ‘close’ to the Board rang me to say the ground reality was very different. The scene within the corporate corridors of Syntel gets murkier by the minute. Our source reports that the Syntel boardroom day before yesterday resembled a bloodbath akin to a pack of lions fighting for meat. Never before had anyone witnessed the usually calm, collected, capable and classy chairman Bharat Desai loose his cool. He resembled a mounting inferno, red as beet, and angrier than ever banging his fist on the table and more. The topic of course was Keshav's pending exit from the company following months of active discussions and negotiations with the Board of Directors.

Apparently, Keshav who was promoted to President last year was not pleased with Syntel's pace and style of growth. He tried to change the way of internal functions and strategy after taking the topmost role and was working on the assumption that he would be taking the final call in all decisions. He found himself at odds with Bharat and certain members of the Board who opposed his style and blocked it at every step. After almost 2-3 months of hardcore negotiations, umpteen US visits and endless frustration, Keshav threw in the towel. Incidentally, the entire leadership team of State Street is within Syntel at the moment having their joint venture board meeting for the BPO part of the business.

Bharat wanted Keshav to resign after the Board meeting whereas Keshav was adamant on doing it day before yesterday since it would not make sense for him to attend the meeting anymore. Eventually he had his way and Bharat decided to cut this short. What followed was alarming, shocking and utterly ruthless. Keshav was asked to leave immediately and his laptop and other company belongings were taken over by the administration. The entire global staff in Syntel is in a tizzy over the incident.

Rumors are abound that Keshav is joining a wealth management firm while others say he is joining another BPO company with larger revenues than Syntel. We will report the facts in a few days.

Keep watching this space for updates.

(Techgoss note:  A tipster sent us this snapshot of the Syntel website as of Feb 3, 2010. In some places, Keshav is still listed as the CEO)