BENGALURU: Following questions raised by its founders on the functioning of the company and some of the key decisions taken by Infosys including a hike given to its CEO Vishal Sikka, Infosys on Wednesday defended its decisions and the pay hike to Sikka.
The company has stated that all the decisions were made “in the overall interest of the company”. According to reports by a section of the media, the company’s founders led by N R Narayana Murthy are said to have raised concerns not only about Sikka’s pay hike but also on the severance package offered to its former executives. The conflict between the management and the founders comes at a time when the market is grappling with the Tata Sons fallout.
In response to queries sent by Express on the issue, Infosys said, “The Board receives suggestions and inputs from various stakeholders, including promoters, which are evaluated with due importance. The company will continue to be guided by the overall interests of all stakeholders. With regard to concerns on governance being discussed in the media, we would like to reiterate that all decisions have been made bona fide, in the overall interest of the company, and that full disclosures have already been made thereon.”
Last year, the company had raised the salary of its CEO to $11 million. Its top executive, the then chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal is said to have been sanctioned Rs 23.02 crore in severance package, for the April 1-October 12, 2015 period, even though his pay for the entire year was Rs 4.72 crore. Former general counsel David Kennedy will also receive severance package of Rs 5.85 crore apart from other reimbursements.
Infosys founders N R Narayana Murthy, Kris Gopalakrishnan and Nandan Nilekani had raised concerns about the functioning of the company and written to the board.
Meanwhile, the shares of the company fell one per cent following the news reports.
“We witnessed a similar scenario at Tata Sons only recently. Such changes and counter actions by investors are a standard practice globally and such instances shouldn’t be blown out of proportion,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst and CEO, Greyhound Research.