Sikka resigns from Infosys

Exit comes after NRN calls him CTO material

Three years after he took charge at the $10 billion IT bellweather, Infosys, Vishal Sikka on Friday resigned as CEO & Managing Director.

This puts an end to an acrimonious turf war between promoter shareholders and the board of directors.

The situation had become untenable for him to continue in the organisation, Sikka said in his resignation letter. “Over the last many months and quarters, we have all been besieged by false, baseless, malicious, and increasingly personal attacks,” Sikka said.

“Allegations that have been repeatedly proven false and baseless by multiple, independent investigations. But despite this, the attacks continue, and worse still, amplified by the very people from whom we all expected the most steadfast support in this great transformation,” he said.

Talking to reporters from Infosys’ Palo Alto office in California, Sikka said the current situation is taking a heavy toll on him and the organisation.

“I just felt that it’s an untenable situation and I do not want to do it any more. It is also in the interest of the company to make this kind of change and make a new beginning all again,” he said.

Earlier, the company, in a regulatory filing, stated that the board has accepted the resignation of Sikka. “Appointed Vishal Sikka as the Executive Vice Chairman. Appointed U Pravin Rao as the Interim Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer,” the company said. The resignation of Sikka, the first non-founder CEO of Infosys, comes a day ahead of the crucial board meeting to consider share buyback. Sikka, who joined Infosys on August 1, 2014, following the resignation of the then CEO S D Shibulal, had a tumultuous stint.

The primary reason for Sikka’s resignation was Co-founder N R Narayana Murthy’s “continuous assault”, including his latest letter, the company said in a press statement filed with the BSE.

In a scathing attack, the Board criticised Murthy for his wayward nature of reaching out to various media houses to attack them. In a letter leaked to some of the media houses on Thursday, Murthy claimed that Sikka was not a CEO material but a CTO material.

The company’s stock took a beating following the resignation and closed the day’s trading at Rs 923.10, a decline of 9.60% over the previous close. In the process, it wiped out Rs 30,000 crore off Infosys’ investor wealth.