For Rajat Gupta, Returning Is a Hard Road
Since his release from prison, Mr. Gupta has been providing consulting services, mostly in India, for Purnendu C. Chatterjee,
a wealthy entrepreneur who knows Mr. Gupta from their early days at McKinsey when there were few South Asians at the firm.
“There was a greater investment of respect and trust in the man, so they were the ones who felt a sense of deep betrayal.” By
contrast, he noted, “the people who welcomed him with open arms in India had benefited more from him than he from them.”
Now, Mr. Gupta cannot get his former firm, McKinsey, which he led for nine years, to even acknowledge him.
A few months ago, Herbert Henzler, a former colleague of Mr. Gupta’s at McKinsey, pushed to have Mr. Gupta
invited to the triennial meeting in Boston in June of the firm’s retired and former senior partners.
Counselage’s Mr. Seth, who was invited to the party, said
that when he told Mr. Gupta that he had dented India’s brand, Mr. Gupta didn’t argue with that assessment.
“I don’t know of any other Indian — underscore any — who has done more for India than he has,”
Mr. Singh said recently, in explaining the affection Indians hold toward Mr. Gupta.
Mr. Gupta, the former global head of consulting giant McKinsey & Company, became
a pariah among many of the corporate chieftains who once craved his counsel.
