Infy story: Murthy backs Nilekani to fix governance lapses
STRONG WORDS ‘Corrective actions have already begun’
BENGALURU: Infosys Ltd co-founder N RN a ray an aM ur thy on Tuesday backed chairman Nan dan Nile kan ito fix corporate governance lapses and also hailed last week’ s over haul of the board that resulted in the exit of four members, including previous chairman R Seshasayee.
Murthy also took a direct shot at former and current board members Jeffrey Lehman and Roopa Kudva, alleging that the former said the board couldn’t disclose to founders the reason behind Infosys agreeing to pay ₹17.38 crore in severance to former chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal; the latter asked the founders to sign anon-disclosure agreement( N DA) if they wanted to known the reason.
“You would all agree that the rejuvenation of the board has begun with the resignation of Mr R Seshasayee and some other board members. However, it is still a work in progress ,” M ur thy told investors hosted by Investec India in Mumbai.
Last week, Infosys named co-founder Nilekani non-executive chairman. Nilekani’s appointment, which was conditional on the overhaul of the previous board, resulted in the exits of Seshasayee, Lehman, John Etchemendy and Vishal Sikka, who had stepped down as CEO on August 18.
However, Murthy also sounded a conciliatory note towards the current board that is being led by Nilekani and said that Info sys had already“started taking corrective steps”.
He said he hoped Nilekani would do the right thing with the report on an investigation into Infosys’s 2015 purchase of Israeli firm Panaya Ltd—an indication that Murthy hopes the full probe report will be made public by Nilekani at some point.
Last week, Nilekani had declined to directly answer whether the company would make the probe report public and instead pointed to Infosys’ statement, which said that he would get a full briefing on all investigations and“the appropriate course of action will be decided”.
“I would like to reiterate my confidence in the current senior management of the company, which has several excellent people with whom I have worked. I know the company is in good hands. I wish Nandan the best of everything in his effort to bring back acche din (good days) to Infosys,” Murthy said.
“Having worked with Nan dan for long, I know that he is a stickler for good corporate governance. As explained earlier, it is this kind of corrective and decisive action that I was looking for in the detailed report. These actions are now being taken. Therefore, we can all move forward from here. Now, we can all sleep better knowing that, under his (Nilekani’s) leadership, the corporate governance standard pr act is ed by Info sys will be on par with the global best standards.”
In a tweet on Tuesday evening, Nilekani, 62, who is currently in Boston, thanked Murthy for his support .“Thank you, Mr. Murthy. I am looking forward to leading@ Info sys with unanimous support of all stakeholders!”