Infosys: As Nandan Nilekani's come back rumour heightens, board members offer to resign

Nearly one week after Vishal Sikka, former CEO and MD of Infosys, decided to step down in view of growing in-fighting between the board and founders, efforts are underway to restore normalcy at the country’s second largest software company. Even as clamour to bring back Nandan Nilekani, former CEO of Infosys, grows, there has been a new twist in the ongoing turbulence. Most of members of the current board have offered to resign, in a way clearing the path for Nilekani’s entry to steer the company out of current crisis, ET Now report said. The report states that with the likely arrival of Nilekani, the board will be reconstituted and three to four directors, barring Punita Sinha and Rupa Kudva, are likely to resign. The board’s current chairman R Seshasayee, Jeff Lehman, and possibly even co-chairman Ravi Venkatesan are likely to relinquish their position. However, there is no clarity whether Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, a close friend of both Murthy’s and Nilekani’s, will stay or go, the report added. [caption id=“attachment_3956143” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] The team of current board members along with ex-CEO and MD Vishal Sikka had received lot of flak from founding members, including N R Narayanamurthy, over the past year or so amid allegations of poor corporate governance. As a result, the possible return of Nilekani would have anyways led to restructuring of board and culminated into resignations of the current board members. Meanwhile, there are indications that Nilekani may be preparing for the role of a non-executive chairman on the board. According to a report in The Economic Times, though he is yet to make up his mind, he has cancelled a two-month trip to the US. “He is seriously considering it. But he will come back as non-executive chairman, not in an operations or business role,” one unnamed source has been quoted as saying in the report. The development comes after 12 domestic institutional investors wrote to the company asking it to bring back Nilekani, who was its CEO earlier. He quit Infosys in 2009 to head UIDAI, after the UPA government gave him the mandate for the controversial Aadhaar project. The investors, who wrote the letter include HDFC Asset Management, ICICI Prudential Asset Management and Birla SunLife Asset Management. They together own 10 percent in the company, while the promoters and their families own 12.75 percent. Infosys ex-CFO V Balakrishnan has favoured bringing in Nilekani as the chairman of the company, saying his experience and understanding of clients made him a “good face” to lead the organisation in the current situation.