Indian multinational Infosys Ltd slashed the revenue guidance for the current year and reported a net profit of Rs 3726 Crore for the quarter ended September 2017. The net profit was higher by seven per cent from the June 2017 quarter. Meanwhile, the company board led by chairman Nandan Nilekani, gave a virtual clean chit to former CEO Vishal Sikka, saying it has found no wrongdoing in the acquisition of Israeli company Panaya.
The company lowered its revenues guideline for the current fiscal year and attributed it to the reading of the IT market by its management leadership. The company projected revenues to grow at the rate of 5.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent in constant currency which is lowering of projection from the 6.5 per cent to 8.5 per cent that was put out at the end of June. Nilekani also ruled out any possibility of putting entire report of the probe into the Panaya deal in the public domain, although this was one of the key demands made earlier by the founder shareholder group led by NR Narayana Murthy. The acquisition had created a rift between the company management and the group of founder shareholders, resulting in Sikka and former chairman R Seshasayee's exit in August.
“The review reaffirmed the conclusion of the independent investigation that there was no merit to the allegations of wrongdoing with respect to the acquisition of Panaya. I believe that all stakeholders acted out of a strong passion for Infosys. We have brought stability. Our goal was to make ourselves boring. We have got out of the headlines and the 'Bigg Boss' kind of stuff. It is no longer reality TV. We are doing good old fashioned business,” Nilekani said.
Meanwhile, co-founder Murthy released an issue saying he stands by every question he raised on governance issues in the company. “The fact remains that none of these questions have been answered by the Infosys board with the transparency it deserves. I am disappointed,” he said. “the core question still is how and why the Infosys board approved an unusual and unprecedented severance payment agreement of 1000 per cent to the former CFO, and why the board did not disclose this information proactively and much earlier. Sadly, it appears we will no longer know the truth.”
