Quarterly earnings are supposed to be a routine affair for most corporates, but somehow Infosys results end up as big talking point among the investor community. Earnings announcement of India's second biggest outsourcer is widely tracked and as freelance analyst Den Howlett put it on Monday, "Life at Infosys is always interesting".
Infosys reported its second quarter of strong numbers as expected, but it was the resignation of its chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal that grabbed more eyeballs.
"I've been at Infosys for 16 years... Becoming CFO at the age of 40 is a dream come true," Mr Bansal said, adding that he felt the need to do "something more exciting and challenging." He will continue as an advisor to the CEO and the Board till December 31, 2015.
Mr Bansal has been replaced by MD Ranganath, a 15-year Infosys veteran, who is currently executive vice president and head of strategic operations at Infosys.
Infosys chief executive Vishal Sikka praised Mr Bansal's contribution saying, he's been a "brilliant" CFO. Dr Sikka added that he was not worried about talent and leadership in the company.
However, many market participants said the sudden resignation of a key management personnel is being viewed negatively by investors.
"Mr Bansal's resignation has something to do with the negative sentiment because nobody likes to see senior people resign and when you do it on the result day, then the impact on the stock could be more," said market analyst Sharmila Joshi.
According to Jayant Manglik of Religare Securities Infosys posted better-than-expected numbers, but factors like lower revenue guidance, CFO resignation and dip in volume growth dented the sentiments and triggered profit taking in Infosys.
Mr Bansal is the third Infosys CFO after TV Mohandas Pai and V Balakrishnan to resign from the company in the last four years. Acknowledging their role, Mr Bansal said, "I am what I am because of them, they have taught me every trick in the game".
Both Mohandas Pai and Bala are partners in Rs 100-crore Exfinity Fund aimed at tech start-ups. But, 42-year-old Mr Bansal, the second highest-paid Infosys executive during 2014-15, joked that he did not have the kind of money his predecessors have to get into private equity or venture capital.
In 2014-15, Mr Bansal's total compensation stood at Rs 4.5 crore; he also owned 70,890 shares of Infosys as of March 31, 2015. These shares are valued at around Rs 8 crore according to Monday's closing price of Rs 1,122.90.
"The resignation of the CFO at this juncture is serious... especially as the incumbent was amongst the last of the core group (read "independent") trained by Mohan and Bala," said Former Polaris CFO Prabal Basu Roy. (Read)
Infosys shares closed 4 per cent lower on Monday, underperforming the broader Sensex, which declined 0.65 per cent to end at 26,904.
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