Ashok Soota calls MindTree exit 'destiny'

Ashok Soota, the outgoing executive chairman of mid-cap it company MindTree took everyone by surprise when he announced his decision to move out of the company he co-founded with nine others including the likes of Subroto Bagchi and Krishnakumar Natarajan among others.

In a very candid interview with CNBC-TV18's Sunanda Jayaseelan, Soota talks about the reasons behind what is being seen as an abrupt exit and clears the air on speculation about differences of opinion between the co-founders.

"It was an unexpected decision and even an unpredictable one," he says adding that it was destiny. "…perhaps I was intended to do another start up."

Rubbishing talks of disagreements with the board of directors, Soota says, "I can't imagine a greater degree of support that we have had on the board on virtually everything; there were really no negative undertones. All that is a part of media speculation which was built up and unfortunately there is no way to avoid people from speculating."

Below is the verbatim transcript of Soota's interview with Jayaseelan of CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: Why did you choose to send out a note from your personal e-mail ID to the press including us? Isn't it rather unusual you think for an Executive Chairman to be communicating to the outside world through his personal ID and not through official channel?

A: The reason for that is very clear. I didn’t want speculation building up that I was about to leave because then it’s a very sensitive information. There could have been rumours, sort of a speculation certainly, within that I was about to leave.

That was a very important part of the reasoning for doing it in the way that I did it. I am glad that a large part of the media clearly saw it as a move of good corporate governance because the announcement was made in the public, didn’t allow any room for speculation.

Clearly, I was also indicating that, “Look, this isn't any revocable decision.” I don’t need to go back to the board for a discussion on these matters.

Q: There have reports that some board members have been unhappy with certain decisions whether it was related to retirements, whether it was related to your investments strategy and investments are something I guess we will come to later, that your shareholders are also expressed the unhappiness. What comments can you offer?

A: I must say that this is exactly what we call as business decision. The very fact that I mentioned that my decision was a personal one should indicate that it has absolutely nothing to do with it.

In fact, I can’t imagine, a greater degree of support than we have had on board from virtually everything. They have been involved very closely in strategy.

Everything that we have been doing has been discussed. There were really no negative under tones and that’s a part of the media speculation which has built up. Unfortunately, there is no way to avoid people from speculating because when you don’t have the obvious answer you have to look for some thing else.