IT major, Infosys Chairman and Chief Mentor N R Narayana Murthy who is set to retire in August next year, said that company's nominations committee led by Cornell University professor Jeffrey Sean Lehman will decide on his successor at an appropriate time. Mr Murthy will turn 65 on August 20 next year.

"I think in the last 15 years, the way we have run the company, it will be easy for an outside person to become the chairman of the company. There will be no issue at all," Murthy expressed.

"No, I think as a matter of principle, I should not express preference for one person or another," he added.

Infosys' nominations committee, which has ICICI Bank Non-Executive Chairman K.V. Kamath, Cornell University professor Lehman and HDFC Standard Life Insurance CEO Deepak M. Satwalekar as members, has already begun discussions.

However, Murthy declined to comment on whether he prefers an Infoscion to step into his shoes. He also said his son Rohan is unlikely to join Infosys any time soon.

Murthy has also mentioned, "If there is a son or daughter who wants to join, who is competent, can certainly join, because we cannot deny any citizen of India, or for that matter, any country, the opportunity to join. But here, she will not have a role disproportionate to their experience, their competence, etc."

"In other words, by the July board meeting, which would be July 10th or 11th of 2011, we should definitely know who would be stepping into the chairman's position," Murthy said.

On other developments, On US senator Charles Schumer calling Infosys a `chop shop', Mr Murthy said, "The culture at Infosys is to collect data, do analysis, reach a conclusion and then speak about it. I wish everybody did that."

Murthy established Infosys in 1981 with an initial capital of $250 along with six others, Nandan Nilekani, Kris Gopalakrishnan, S.D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh, N.S. Raghavan and A. Arora.With revenue of Rs 6,198 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2010, Infosys has over 113,000 employees in over 50 offices worldwide.