Infosys board is working for all shareholders, not just founders

The board and management of tech giant Infosys has “reached out” to clients to assure them that it is business as usual at the Bengaluru-head quartered company.
According to people close to the Infosys board, the board and management are making sure there is “no impact” of the ongoing face-off with Infy founders on business and that the company’s “obligations to clients remain unaffected”. To that end, the management has already “reached out to key clients and has been communicating,” said the source with knowledge of the matter.
The board and management are also looking into the proposals being made by the promoters and “will act on what is right for the company because they have a fiduciary responsibility to 100% shareholders, not just the founders who are 13% shareholders,” said a source close to the board
While Infosys founders have voiced their concerns over CEO pay hikes and top executive severance packages, among other issues, the board and management do not consider the current disagreement a “rift”.”It’s the founders’ view point but the board and management feel it should do what is right for the business as a whole,” said the source. “As promoters they can give their opinions and the board and management would respect that, but the latter will do what is right in terms of the large body of Infosys investors, not just the promoters,” he added.
According to the source, the board’s position is that it is “happy to get every input from promoters and other key stakeholders but it will do what is in best interests of the business”. As for the appointment of Punita Kumar Sinha as independent director to the board -another point of contention with the founders -the source said “it is true some of them abstained (while the matter was put to vote) but she is a very accomplished individual, understands her fiduciary responsibilities and the board feels she brought lot of value to the table. To judge a woman by what her husband does or does not do is very unfair in this day and age. The board is looking at what she brings to the table, not who she is married to,” he said.