Polaris reshuffles top brass

Polaris Software on Monday announced a reshuffle among the top management. Arup Gupta is the company's new president and COO, and will be in charge of the company's global operations, delivery and sales functions.

Meanwhile, the current executive director, Govind Singhal, has decided to quit.

Arup Gupta had earlier spent 25 years at Tata Consultancy Services, where his last executive role was that of president of North American operations.

Polaris' chairman and managing director, Arun Jain, who made the announcements at a press conference on Monday, said he would adopt a more hands-off role in the future.  Jain said his focus would be on "strategic intervention."

A Polaris media release said Jain would play the role of 'chief architect' of the company.  Polaris, which recorded an income of Rs 669 crore (Rs 6.69 billion) last fiscal, has seen a lacklustre performance in the recent past.

The performance has coincided with the company's move to provide software solutions for the financial services industry.

Jain said the company would continue on the same path, and Gupta's experience in scaling up operations would be critical to Polaris.

Jain described Polaris' strategy as 'Level 2 outsourcing,' where the business was based on providing solutions. He said Polaris' key competitors in the field were global players. Polaris would use the relatively lower cost structure in India to compete in 'Level 2 outsourcing,' he added.