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Vishal Sikka resigns as MD and CEO of Infosys

Last Updated 18 August 2017, 05:36 IST
Ending the tug-of-war between the promoter shareholders and board of directors, Vishal Sikka on Friday tendered his resignation from the post of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Infosys. The board of directors of the company has accepted it and appointed Sikka as the Executive Vice-Chairman of Infosys with immediate effect.

In a regulatory filing, the second largest IT services company stated that the board accepted the resignation of Vishal Sikka as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Company with immediate effect.

“We have appointed Vishal Sikka as the Executive Vice Chairman and U Pravin Rao as the Interim Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Infosys with immediate effect,” the company statement said.

The resignation of Sikka, after three years of service, comes one day ahead of the crucial share buy back decision of Infosys board. Sikka, who became Infosys CEO and MD in 2014, following the resignation of SD Shibulal, had a tumultuous stint in the company.

The company told BSE that its board was profoundly distressed by the unfounded personal attacks on the members of their management team that were made in the anonymous letters that have surfaced in recent months.

“A series of careful investigations found no merit to the unsubstantiated and anonymous allegations that had been asserted. The board denounces the critics who have amplified and sought to further promote demonstrably false allegations which have harmed employee morale and contributed to the loss of the company’s valued CEO,” it said in a BSE filing.

Sikka was cornered by promoter founders led by NR Narayana Murthy for his lapses in governance issues, controversial purchase of Panaya, exorbitant severance package of top line employees.

Murthy also publicly lambasted Infosys leadership over the course of past seven months for lapses in corporate governance. The company formed an inquiry committee to look into the issues and it recently targetted Sikka and the leadership of these charges.


As part of reconciliation measures, the company appointed a committe to look into the goveernance issue and appointed Ravi Venkatesan, former Microsoft India head, as Co-chairman of its board.


In his latest email and interaction with media, Murthy went on to criticize the board for failing to uphold the company’s famed governance standards and not creating “checks and balances required in any well-run company”.


Sikka, an influential advocate for HANA, SAP's new In-memory database technology, was the chief technology officer of Germany headquartered technology company SAP.
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(Published 18 August 2017, 03:56 IST)

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