Infosys loses arbitration case over severance package to ex-CFO Rajiv Bansal; asked to pay Rs 12.17 crore with interest

New Delhi: IT major Infosys Ltd has lost an arbitration case over severance package to its former CFO Rajiv Bansal. The software major has been asked to pay the outstanding amount of Rs 12.17 crore, with interest, the firm said on Tuesday. “The arbitral tribunal has communicated its decision in the arbitration proceedings in relation to the severance agreement between the company and its former CFO, Mr Rajiv Bansal,” Infosys said in a BSE filing. As per the award, Infosys is required to pay Bansal the outstanding severance amount of Rs 12.17 crore, with interest, it added. [caption id=“attachment_4127595” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] “While the award acknowledges that Infosys had bona fide disputes, its counterclaim for a refund of previously paid severance amount of Rs 5.2 crore and damages, has been rejected,” the filing said, adding that the arbitral award is confidential. Infosys said it will take legal advice for further action on the issue. Infosys had earlier agreed to pay Bansal a severance amount of Rs 17.38 crore or 24 months of salary, but the company suspended payments after disbursing Rs 5 crore as co-founder NR Narayana Murthy and others objected to the package, saying it was excessive. Infosys had claimed it suffered losses post-deletion of some company data by  Bansal, who erased data from his laptop, according to an ET report. However, “Bansal’s (lawyers) defended his action saying it is normal for senior executives who leave an organisation to delete data in their official systems and the company should have stored such sensitive data on its servers,” sources said. Bansal’s severance payout has been one of the issues that Infosys founders had raised to allege governance lapses at the Bengaluru-based firm. --With PTI inputs