Brand Rebuilt, Infosys On Track To Resume Growth, Says Nandan Nilekani

Infosys Co-Founder and Non-Executive Chairman Nandan Nilekani today said the company is “stable, united and on track to resume growth”, a year after a boardroom tussle led to then-Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka's exit.

“The priority is to get our strategy right under the leadership of [CEO] Salil Parekh,” he said while addressing shareholders at the 37th annual general meeting in Bengaluru. This was Nilekani's first AGM after returning to the company eight years after he stepped down to assume the role of chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India in 2010.

Parekh, who was also attending his first AGM after taking over as the chief executive officer in January, said the new management had developed a five-prolonged strategy within the digital space to drive growth. The company has set a three-year road map to achieve the objectives, he said.

Shareholders asked the management for updates on governance issues that had arisen over the last few years.

Other shareholders raised concerns over the churn of top-level executives in the company.

The Sikka exit came after months of acrimony between the then board members and Co-Founder NR Narayana Murthy. Murthy had questioned governance standards over the severance pay made to former Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Bansal. Anonymous allegations were made of wrongdoing in the acquisition of Israeli firm Panaya during Sikka's term. Murthy had criticised Sikka for not making the investigation reports on the Panaya acquisition public. Under Nilekani and Parekh, Inofsys announced in April that it is looking for buyers for some of its subsidiaries including Panaya.