Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka, Board to Clarify on Rift With Founders
A difference of opinion doesn’t mean there is a rift, said Infosys director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.
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Infosys Ltd Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka and the board are expected to respond to the concerns raised by the company's founders in two separate events on Monday.
Sikka is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at Kotak Institutional Equities’ Chasing Growth conference at 10 am, while the board will address a press conference at 6 pm in Mumbai.
Infosys founders, including NR Narayana Murthy, have raised questions over executive compensation and corporate governance at the information technology firm.
The three main issues raised by the founders are:
- Severance paid to former Infosys chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal and compliance head David Kennedy.
- Re-appointment and increased remuneration of Vishal Sikka.
- Appointment of Punita Kumar Sinha, wife of Union Minister Jayant Sinha, and re-appointment of Jeffrey Sean Lehman as non-executive directors on the board.
The company said that all issues pertaining to CEO compensation, the appointment of independent directors, and severance pay of former employees date back to at least a few months. The company’s position has been repeatedly explained by the management and overwhelmingly approved by the shareholders, wherever required, Infosys said in a media statement on Thursday.
Infosys also maintained that its board is independent and professional and independent directors have no interest other than their commitment to seeing the company succeed.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, an Infosys board member and chairman of biotechnology company Biocon Ltd, said that the board members have been transparent in dealing with the issues that have been pointed out. Speaking to BloombergQuint over the phone, she insisted that there was no rift between the company's management and founders.
The Infosys board has appointed law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas to review its governance standards, a media statement had said on Thursday.
The inputs received from the founders and other stakeholders will be evaluated, reviewed and recommended to the board, the statement added.
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