CEO Vishal Sikka has said that reports based on a mail sent by an alleged whistle-blower was designed to tarnish the company’s reputation and was specifically targeted against employees, including himself.

In an e-mail to employees, Sikka strongly disputed issues related to Panaya, a company it acquired in February 2016 for $200 million. “They create a false alternate-reality out of events and dates, with embellishments that are calculated to mislead and sensationalise,” he said.

Sikka made it clear that the IT major cannot let these stand unchallenged, and will take every step and pursue every avenue to strongly defend the company.

Stating that though these distractions are expensive, draining and time-consuming, “It is our burden to ensure that our company’s business continues unflinchingly. As I have written previously, we have far bigger battles ahead of us. STRAP (strategy and action planning conclave) is a couple of weeks out, and we need to have a strong close to the year, while simultaneously preparing ourselves for a new year ahead.”

Sikka, who has been in the eye of the storm lately regarding his remuneration, said he has always counted on the employee’s faith and “unwavering attention to what really matters.”

Sikka also said that there are far bigger battles ahead “as we have to close the year strongly and at the same time preparing for the next financial year”. Sikka went on to add that change is never easy especially at the scale the company is undertaking, which has ‘inflamed’ some of them. The change Sikka is referring to has to do with the way the company is trying to develop a model where people and software go hand in hand instead of body-shopping, which built the $155-billion Indian IT industry.

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