New Delhi, August 23: As many as 12 fund managers, representing institutional investors in Infosys, have suggested bringing co-founder and former CEO Nandan Nilekani back on the board of the IT major to restore confidence of stakeholders and help resolve the crisis.
This is the second major pitch for bringing back Nilekani after an investor advisory firm IiAS said the co-founder, who had served as CEO between March 2002 to April 2007 and later went on to head the UIDAI, should be brought back on the Infosys board as its non-executive chairman.
As the crisis continues at Infosys following the sudden resignation of its first non-founder CEO Vishal Sikka amid a public spat between some founders and the top management, the company’s stock crashed 15 per cent for the two straight trading sessions, eroding its market wealth by Rs 34,000 crore.
“The recent developments are very concerning to each one of us,” the 12 fund mangers said in a joint letter, which sources said, has been written to Infosys chairman, among others.
The fund mangers said they represent several of the leading institutional investors of the country and each of these is a shareholder in Infosys.
“After considerable thought and mutual deliberations, we strongly feel that the board of Infosys should invite Nandan Nilekani to join the board in a suitable capacity,” the letter noted.
They said Nilekani enjoys confidence of various stakeholders, including customers, shareholders and employees.
“Given his credentials, we feel that his joining the board at this stage will restore confidence of stakeholders in the company and also facilitate resolution of the contentious issues that Infosys is facing presently. We do hope that you will consider the above and do the needful,” the letter noted.
The joint letter has been written by ICICI Prudential AMC’s S Naren; ICICI Prudential Life Insurance’s Manish Kumar; HDFC MF’s Prashant Jain; HDFC Life Insurance’s Prasun Gajri; Reliance Nippon Life AMC Sunil Singhania; SBI Funds Management’s Navneet Munot and SBI Life Insurance’s Gopikrishna Shenoy.
Nilekani is one of the seven founders that set up Infosys more than three decades ago and served as its CEO between March 2002 to April 2007.
