SIKKA EXIT

Changes in Infosys board was expected: experts

PTI8_18_2017_000113B Infosys Executive Vice Chairman & Former CEO Vishal Sikka addressing through a video-link from California, as Co-Chairman Ravi Venkatesan looks on during a press conference to announce the new interim CEO, at the company's headquarters in Bengaluru on Friday | PTI

As per media reports, many of the Infosys board members have offered to resign in order to bring Nandan Nilekani back to the company. Apparently it is being said that it has been Nilekani's condition to start again and bring new members in case he comes back. 

However, likely changes in the Infosys board was expected, experts with whom THE WEEK spoke have said. They say that it was expected that a few board members may resign soon and some new members are likely to be added in the Infosys board. Many experts had earlier blamed the Infosys board for not trying to maintain a proper balance between its CEO Vishal Sikka and the Infosys founders such as N.R. Murthy. They had also said that many of the board members such as R. Seshasayee did not have a technology background and did not get along well with Murthy. 

Experts such as Alok Shende of Ascentius Consulting feel that the Infosys board is to be blamed for this complete debacle and could have been handled it very sensitively. “I feel that the Infosys board had not been transparent enough to deal with different situations especially in answering the queries from Murthy properly. Why were the queries not answered properly? I also feel that the intention of Sikka to stay till March next year is to vest the Infosys stock options which will mature by the end of the financial year. I feel that except for a few members, most of the board members will leave the Infosys board,” said Shende. 

Another expert Amit Chandra the IT analyst from HDFC Securities feels that the whole Infosys episode has highlighted the incompetency of the Infosys board and has shown its incapability to handle the situation. “I feel that many of the Infosys board members are not very capable and some are not from a technical background. Infosys is a large organisation with a very high market cap and around 2 lakh employees and it needs matured board members and people who understand their technology business and handle critical situations for the company,” Chandra told THE WEEK. 

Experts such as Kris Lakshmikanth feel that Sikka may leave the company even before March next year. “Sikka will have to wait till March next year to get his Infosys stocks vested but the company can accelerate that vesting and he can leave before that,” said Lakshmikanth. 

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Topics : #Infosys

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