Board will try to allay promoters' concerns: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Infosys board member

In a chat with ET Now, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Member, Infosys Board, says this is not a time to fight. This is a time when we should support Vishal Sikka to really focus on growth and transformation because these are very challenging times globally for the IT sector.

Edited excerpts.

What are your views on current board vs promoters issue?


It is unfortunate that it is being made into a governance issue which it is not. It is really about perception challenges that have actually created these kind of unpleasant situation. But, personally I believe that the board is creating a very formal channel of communication with the promoters, hopefully we will start seeing these kind of issue subsiding.

As a board member yourself, Murthy has said that the issues have been largely with the board and not per se with Vishal Sikka so what's your stand? Is it the governance breakdown at the board level?

Personally, I do not believe there are governance breakdowns. Yes, there have been concerns and issues expressed by Murthy and the promoters, but I think these are more to do with perception issues rather than real breakdown of governance systems. As a board member I can certainly say that there has been no breach in governance issues, yes maybe there are judgement calls on which we differ with the promoters, but I think over time we will try and see how we can allay these concerns that the promoters have in terms of the way the board conducts itself.

But the board continues to back Vishal Sikka as far as the board’s stand is concerned?

The board has always backed Vishal Sikka. I think we remain very firmly grounded on this aspect, we believe this is not a time for us to get into these kind of issue. This is a time when we should move forward, we should support Vishal Sikka and the management team to really focus on growth and transformation because these are very challenging times globally for the IT sector and we must actually try and see how Infosys can continue to lead the way.

The larger issue has been the severance packages given to a few employees including CFO Rajiv Bansal. What's your read on the entire controversy around the severance package?

Severance packages are basically drawn up by the management and these particular severance packages that you referred to have been arrived at under very complex circumstances. We have to leave it to management to make this judgment calls.