Infosys CEO mocked 2 directors as ''Madrasis''

A few anonymous employees of global software vendor Infosys have accused its Chief Executive Officer Salil Parekh and Chief Financial Officer Nilanjan Roy of unethical practices. These ‘unethical practices’ were cited in a 2-page letter to the Bengaluru-based IT giant’s board of directors.

One such complaint pertains to Chief Executive Officer Salil Parkih, who turned the fortunes of the global software vendor; he is alleged to have mocked two independent directors of the company as "Madrasis."

"The CEO told us, ‘No one in the board understands these things, they are happy as long as the share price is up. Those two Madrasis (Sundaram and Prahlad) and Diva (Kiran MazumdarShaw) make silly points, you just nod and ignore them'," said the whistle blowers in a joint letter to the company's board on September 20.

‘Madrasi’ is a derogatory slang word, used up North for describing people down South. "The word Madrasi is used in northern India when referring to people in the southern states because there was a time when most of the bureaucrats, including secretaries, IAS officers and clerical staff, were from Tamil Nadu, especially Madras," a political analyst told IANS.

People of southern states feel offended or embarrassed when they are called so.

Parekh also used the expression ''diva'' for Kira Mazumdar-Shaw, although it is commonly used for cine stars, pop stars and fashion models.

When there was no response from the board to the letter of the employees, the same was forwarded to the US-based office of Whistleblower.

"Parekh and Roy have been resorting to unethical practices for many quarters, as is evident from their e-mails and voice recordings of their conversations," said the complainants in the letter to the board, a copy of which has been accessed by IANS.

The letter also pointed out that several billion dollar deals in the last few quarters were of nil margin. "In (the) board meetings, we are told not to present data on large deals and important financial measures, as it will get the board's attention," the letter states.