Infosys board okays up to `9,200-crore buyback plan

New Delhi, April 14: Infosys on Wednesday said its board has approved an up to Rs 9,200-crore buyback plan, wherein the IT major will buy back shares at a maximum price of Rs 1,750 apiece.

The last closing price of Infosys was Rs 1,398.60 on the BSE.

The buyback is part of the company's capital return of Rs 15,600 crore, which also includes a final dividend of Rs 6,400 crore.

From FY20, Infosys had enhanced its capital allocation plan and said it will return 85 per cent of free cash flow cumulatiely over five years via buyback and dividends.

"We've declared Rs 6,400 crore of dividend and Rs 9,200 crore in the buyback. Our cumulative payout for FY21 and FY20, which are the first two years of the capital allocation policy, we would have paid out 83 per cent of the 85 per cent, Infosys chief financial officer Nilanjan Roy said.

Elaborating on capital allocation exercise, an Infosys statement said for FY 21, its board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 15 per share, and that together with the interim dividend of Rs 12 per share already paid, the total dividend per share for FY21 will amount to Rs 27, up 54 per cent over FY20.

American Depositary Shares holders can convert their ADS into equity shares and sell them on the Indian stock exchanges.

Infosys said its net profit went up 17.5 per cent to Rs 5,076 crore in the March quarter against Rs 4,321 crore a year ago. Its revenue grew 13.1 per cent to Rs 26,311 crore from Rs 23,267 crore.

The firm’s FY21 net profit was up 16.6 per cent to Rs 19,351 crore, while revenue was up 10.7 per cent to Rs 1,00,472 crore.