Bengaluru: Mr Vishal Sikka, Infosys Ltd’s first non-founder CEO appointed in 2014, stepped down on Friday citing “false, baseless, malicious and increasingly personal attacks”, indicating that his exit from the IT bellwether was a fall-out of the continuous assault and sustained criticism of his functioning from within and outside the company.
The elephant in the room was founder and ex-chairman of the company N.R. Narayana Murthy, who picked Mr Sikka for the top job but over the last year has raised issues of “poor corporate governance” and executive pay as well as doubts over acquisitions leading to a year-long acrimony between the board and the high-profile founders led by Mr Murthy. Mr Pravin Rao, currently chief operating officer, has been named interim CEO.
Infosys Board rallies behind Vishal Sikka
Mr Sikka will become executive vice-chairman for $1 annual salary to help find new MD and CEO latest by March 31, 2018.
The founders still hold 12.75 per cent in Infosys. Without naming anyone, Mr Sikka in his resignation letter to the Board said that "over the last many months and quarters, we have all been besieged by false, baseless, malicious and increasingly personal attacks" and these allegations have been repeatedly proven false 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. The latest provocation is reportedly Murthy claiming in an email, selectively leaked to the media, that he had been told by Infosys independent directors that Sikka was more suited as a Chief Technology Officer than Chief Executive Officer. Infosys Board came out with a strongly worded statement defending Sikka’s performance and ruled out a formal role for any of co-founders in the company's governance.
