Shares of Infosys dropped over one per cent on Wednesday after a report said that the company’s founders had raised several governance concerns with its board, including Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka’s pay hike. The stock fell 1.21% to hit a low of Rs 933.30 on the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex, The Economic Times reported.
Apart from a pay raise to Sikka, the founders also questioned the appointment of Union Minister Jayant Sinha’s wife, Punita, as an independent director, The Times of India reported. The severance package of Rs 17.4 crore paid to former chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal when he quit was one of the other concerns raised by the founders.
Infosys founders NR Narayana Murthy, Kris Gopalakrishnan and Nandan Nilekani were also considering a share buyback worth Rs 12,000 crore to return its idle cash to its shareholders, CNBC TV18 reported on Tuesday . The company is reportedly discussing whether the buyback process should be an open tender or a market buyback. However, it refused to comment on the matter.
In January, Infosys had posted a 7% jump in its consolidated net profit for the October-December quarter. For the calendar year 2016, the company’s revenues crossed $10 billion (approximately Rs 66,000 crore), Sikka had said.
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