Amid the ongoing tug-of-war between the board and founders, Infosys Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka has lined up an array of meetings in Mumbai on Monday to drum up support for the board.
Sikka is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at Kotak Institutional Equities Investor Conference. Besides this, he has lined up a number of meetings with institutional investors and mutual fund houses to explain to them the developments related to statements made by the promoters.
The CEO’s meetings with institutional investors are important as they hold 74.67 per cent stake in Infosys, while the promoters own 12.7 per cent. Life Insurance Corporation of India, HDFC Mutual Fund, ICICI Mutual Fund and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance are the major shareholders in the IT major.
On Saturday, LIC said it has acquired an additional 2 per cent stake in Infosys over three years ending February 2017, taking its total shareholding in the Bengaluru-based software major to 7.02 per cent.
Further, the Infosys board has also called for a press conference in Mumbai to explain its stance. Most of the directors including Chairman R Seshasayee, Chief Operating Officer UB Pravin Rao, Punita Kumar-Sinha and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw are expected to attend.
Sikka is also likely to attend, but he is yet to confirm, sources said.
Trouble has been brewing at the country’s second-largest software exporter, after its founder NR Narayana Murthy raised concerns on corporate governance lapses and hte compensation paid to Sikka and severance pay to former Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Bansal.
Sikka was paid ₹48.7 crore in base salary, bonus and benefits last year. Infosys has denied corporate governance lapses.
Meanwhile, Sikka took to Twitter and wrote these lines by lyricist Gulzar, “ jo soye hain khabaron (news) mein unko jagana naheen ...”