Nilekani returns to Infosys as Non-Executive Chairman, 4 Board members quit

mangaloretoday news network

Bengaluru, Aug. 24: Nandan Nilekani returned to lead Infosys Ltd. as co-founders took control and pushed out four board members, capping months-long hostilities that led to Vishal Sikka’s exit as managing director and chief executive officer last week.

Nilekani, the architect of Aadhaar, will take over as a non-executive chairman and non-executive director of India’s second largest software services provider, according to the company’s exchange filing. R Seshasayee, Jeffrey S Lehman, John Etchemendy and Sikka resigned from the board. Ravi Venkatesan stepped down as co-chairman but will continue as an independent director. UB Pravin Rao will remain the interim CEO.

“I am happy to return... and look forward to working with my colleagues on the board and in executive management on the business opportunities we see before us and delivering benefits to our clients, shareholders, employees and communities,” an Infosys press released quoted Nilekani as saying. “I thank Vishal for his service as the CEO of Infosys over the last 3 years and wish him well in his future endeavors.”

BloombergQuint had earlier reported that Nilekani may return to help the company navigate the current leadership crisis it is facing.

This brings back a founder on the board of Infosys after a gap of three years that coincided with Sikka’s term. Nilekani did not take sides publicly even as a spat raged for months between co-founder NR Narayana Murthy and the board over Sikka’s pay, acquisition of Israeli firm Panaya and severance pay for former Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Bansal. His return will help bring truce and allow the company to focus on challenges ranging from automation to visa curbs in the U.S., the software exporter’s largest market.

Nilekani, who co-founded the information technology giant with Murthy and five others 36 years ago, said the “board will actively consider a broad based shareholder consultation process as a critical part of its overall engagement initiatives with all the stakeholders of the company that are being taken up on a priority basis.”

The information technology bellwether’s stock had tumbled as much as 15 percent in just two trading sessions after Sikka’s exit even as the company announced a Rs 13,000 crore share buyback plan.

At least a dozen large institutional shareholders of Infosys on Wednesday urged the company’s board to rope in Nilekani to restore confidence amid uncertainty stemming from Sikka’s exit.

Nilekani, who was the managing director and chief executive officer at Infosys from 2002 till 2007, enjoys the confidence of customers, shareholders and employees, they said in a letter to the board.

Nilekani was previously the co-chairman of the board of directors of Infosys, which he co-founded in 1981. He served as a director on the company’s board till July 2009 when he left Infosys to build out India’s Aadhaar programme and served as chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India in the rank of a cabinet minister.

He quit the post in 2014 to contest the Lok Sabha election from South Bangalore but lost to a BJP candidate. Since then, he has continued to evangelise the use of technology and digital identification in government schemes.