Mohandas Pai may co-chair Bangalore B-school

T V Mohandas Pai, who quit Infosys and its Board of Directors in a surprise move last week, has received an offer from Bangalore University to co-chair the proposed Bangalore School of Economics.

"We want him to co-chair the proposed school of Economics," Bangalore University vice-chancellor N Prabhu Dev, who has written to Pai, told PTI.

He said the University was keen on leveraging the vast experience and expertise of Pai, who is its alumni.

"He is articulate and dynamic. Narayanan Murthy (Infosys chief mentor) himself has described Pai as the key anchor builder of Infosys. We think Pai could put the Bangalore School of Economics on the national map", he said.

The proposed Bangalore School of Economics would be on the lines of Delhi School of Economics, for which the University is awaiting clearance from the Academic Council and Syndicate.

Once the approval is sanctioned, the institution will begin operation on a temporary basis in an existing structure and later be moved to a block under construction.

"Since Pai had expressed a desire to spend 30 per cent of his time on higher education and in modifying syllabi to be industry friendly, we thought we could make him an offer," he said, adding that the University also plans to rope in other corporates to lend their expertise.

On his future plans, Pai had said he wants to spend 30 per cent of his time with the corporate world, 30 per cent with his family and 30 per cent on higher education.

"I will be meeting Pai in this regard," Prabhu said.

Pai ended his 17-year association with Infosys on April 15, the second top executive to leave Infosys in two years after Nandan Nilekani, one of its founders, who is now heading the Government's ambitious Unique Identification Number project.