Will not leave till stability returns in Infosys: Nandan Nilekeni

The company was plunged into a crisis and a bitter war of words followed after Vishal Sikka resigned as the CEO of Infosys.

Calling for good corporate governance in his first conference call with investors emphasising on "oversight, governance and functioning" he said: "I have not come in as the CEO. I have come in an as execution guy."

He said he will help in the new CEO search. "We are very confident on the search, we have a large pool of internal and external candidates on CEO search," he said.

The 62-year-old, the architect of the Aadhaar card idea in India, said: "I'm here to ensure stability, will leave once my job is done."

The war of words between the Infosys Board and its founder Narayan Murthy over corporate governance had earlier got murkier over Sikka's resignation with both sides alleging wrong-doing of the other.

Infosys Board issued a detailed Press Release last Friday saying that  it has come to the attention of the Board that a letter authored by Mr. Murthy, the Founder of Infosys, has been released to various media houses attacking the integrity of the Board and Management of the Company alleging falling corporate governance standards in the Company.

Among other things, the release from the Infosys Board had said, "Mr. Murthy's continuous assault, including this latest letter, is the primary reason that the CEO, Dr. Vishal Sikka, has resigned despite strong Board support. Mr. Murthy’s letter contains factual inaccuracies, already-disproved rumours, and statements extracted out of context from his conversations with Board members."

The release also said, "The Board has been engaged in a dialogue with the Founder to resolve his concerns over the course of a year, trying earnestly to find feasible solutions within the boundaries of law and without compromising its independence. These dialogues have unfortunately not been successful."

Narayan Murthy reportedly responded by saying, "I am extremely anguished by the allegations, tone and tenor of the statements. I voluntarily left the Board in 2014 and am not seeking any money, position for children or power. My concern primarily was the deteriorating standard of corporate governance which I have repeatedly brought to the notice of the Infosys board."

"It is below my dignity to respond to such baseless insinuations. I will reply to these allegations in the right manner and in the right forum and at the appropriate time," the media quoted Murthy as saying on Friday.

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