Time for truce? N R Narayana Murthy calls off battle with Infosys board

Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy has called off the battle with the software major's board, while reasserting that the company should ensure corporate governance norms are not diluted.

"Let me stop. I have made a point, paying such large sums of money is confusing. Now they have to sort it out," Murthy was quoted as saying by Bloomberg on its India website.

The truce comes after Infosys clarified that it has not engaged in any illegal transactions or paid "hush money" in the guise of severance pay made to former chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal. The company also made changes to its severance pay rules based on the local laws for such pay in each country.

"As for the quantum (of compensation), while it is not ordinary, when we look back in hindsight, lessons could have been learnt and action has been taken,” said Infosys' independent director Rupa Kudva – who is also the director of Omidyar Networks, a firm that looks at social impact investments – in a phone interview to Business Standard. "We have done benchmarking for severance pay according to each country and reworked senior management contracts to reflect it," Kudva added. 

She also said that there were no irregularities or hush money paid in the Bansal episode at Infosys. She added that while the company has strong internal audit controls, external audits have also found no wrongdoing.

While Murthy has backed down, he has won some battles with the Infosys board. His recommendation to appoint his relative and former Infosys employee D N Prahlad on the board was honoured last year. 

The board members have said that the concerns expressed by the founders were largely due to a transition from a hands-on executive board to an independent board and the judgement taken on decisions that could lead to changes in perception. Infosys has hired law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas to engage with stakeholders, including the founders, and take suggestions to recommend to the board, even as it independently engages with the founders as large investors.

The founders have around 13 per cent stake in Infosys, while the Life Insurance Corporation has seven per cent stake.