Passing on the Baton

Very few of the global IT majors that set up shop in India during the 1990s

have managed to hang on to their Indian top bosses for long, for various

reasons. The ones that have survived at the helm have, because of their

longevity, acquired iconic status. Oracle India belongs to this tribe-its MD

Shekhar Dasgupta has been associated with the company since its India inception

in 1993 and has been in his current position since 1998. Since many in the

industry tend to associate Oracle India with Dasgupta, it was indeed a matter of

great consternation when news of Dasgupta's resignation came to light during

Oracle's annual OpenWorld jamboree in Mumbai.

Though the Oracle management was initially not too keen to dwell on Dasgupta's

resignation, it finally came out that the decision had already been arrived at

about a month ago. However, Dasgupta is currently serving out a notice period

which will last till May 2005; the announcement about the successor too is to be

made at a later date.

“I will be leaving with the certainty that I have achieved what I sought to in the first place, and that it is time to pass on the baton to someone else” -Shekhar Dasgupta, MD, Oracle India

Oracle India is currently at the crossroads, poised to take a huge leap for

growth, and many feel that the timing of resignation is inopportune. Dasgupta

himself tried to play down the significance of his departure if any: "It's

a natural process, people come and go. I will be leaving with the certainty that

I achieved what I sought to in the first place, and that it is time to pass on

the baton to someone else. Right now I have the advantage of age and the

motivation to build a career in a new field which it has been my long-avowed

dream to pursue. I am confident that I will be successful in that too. The

confluence of timing of the two makes it most 'opportune'. I also have the

satisfaction of leaving in an aura of success." Oracle's official claim

is that Dasgupta is likely to join academia.

There is a feeling that Dasgupta's resignation might be part of Oracle's

overall strategy to emerge as a software applications player. This too was one

of the most important messages coming out of OpenWorld. It looks like the

general opinion in the Oracle camp is that the database battle has been won; now

it is time to fight another war on a completely new turf-the war to win the

supremacy as an enterprise software applications player. And this is one war

that is being fought against all major IT players, be they IBM, HP, Sun or even

Microsoft.

Therefore, though Dasgupta during his long innings at Oracle has managed to

bring the company to a critical mass (according to DQ estimates it reached Rs

835 crore in 2003-04 up 41% from previous fiscal), he might not be the best

person to head the company after its paradigm shift from a database player to

enterprise applications major. In fact, even the resignation of another senior

personnel in China two months ago can be looked at in the same light.

Officially, however, Oracle denies there is any link between the two, but two

high-profile resignations at almost the same time in the same region are bound

to attract such interpretations.

Nonetheless, Dasgupta's contribution at Oracle India during his stint of

more than a decade cannot be overlooked. In his own words, he created an engine

of growth for Oracle India. "The last six years in Oracle India can be

summarized in one word: growth. This has come about through building our market

leadership in our products; we are no. 1 in at least two product categories-database

and CRM; no. 2 in two-application server and ERP." In the last few years,

Oracle India has also built market leadership in verticals like BFSI, telecom,

government and in certain sub segments of the manufacturing sectors such as pulp

and paper and metals.

As far as legacy is concerned, Dasgupta feels he is leaving behind a highly

competent bunch of individuals, focused to achieve their individual and company

goals in a positive environment. And an asset base of over 6250 customers. That

speaks for itself.

Rajneesh De in Mumbai