The ongoing controversy in India's second largest IT firm- Infosys is unlikely to settle down soon as former top officials of the company are not convinced by the explanation provided by the current management led by Infosys Chairman R Seshasayee and CEO Vishal Sikka. In an interview to PTI, ex-CFO of Infosys T V Mohandas Pai accused the management of not disclosing necessary details on Rajiv Bansal's exit with a high severance package of Rs 17.3 crore. Mr Pai's statement comes a day after Infosys former CFO V Balakrishnan on Monday said he was disappointed that the company did not offer 'concrete answers' on matters like Vishal Sikka's compensation and severance pay to former executives, and insisted that the board need to take the 'first step' to address the concerns raised.
Infosys Chairman R Seshasayee, along with CEO Vishal Sikka and other board members, on Monday had presented a united front to defend some of the company's decisions that have come under founders' scrutiny.
In his explanation at the press conference Mr Sikka had said that "Infosys has done well in the past two years," asserting that he joined the company "due to a higher level of governance." But Mr Pai is not satisfied with the explanations offered by the management so far.
"In October 2015, they had a press release saying the CFO is going, and both the CFO and CEO said nice things about each other. They did not disclose (the severance package)... They didn't disclose after the December quarter (results)," Mr Pai told PTI.
After receiving flak from the ex-top officials of Infosys Mr Seshasayee said, "In determining the severance package of Rajiv Bansal when he left the company in October 2015, there was a business judgment by the Board and this amount was agreed to be paid".
"In retrospect, I have no hesitation in saying that this compensation would have been different, had the judgment, made in the circumstances, been different. We had some subjectivity in making this judgment," he said.
"It would serve everyone concerned much better, if that subjectivity element is taken away from severance packages," the chairman added describing in euphemism what was clearly a major error in business judgment.
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