Infosys submits settlement application with SEBI over Rajiv Bansal's severance pay

Name: Infosys submits settlement application with SEBI over Rajiv Bansal's severance pay
Uploaded: 2017-12-06T20:44:41+05:30
Description: Former CFO Rajiv Bansal's high severance package was among the concerns that Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy had raised with the then Board and CEO Vishal Sikka earlier this year.

Former CFO Rajiv Bansal's high severance package was among the concerns that Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy had raised with the then Board and CEO Vishal Sikka earlier this year.

December 06, 2017 / 21:23 IST

IT major Infosys on Wednesday said it has submitted a settlement application to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) with regard to issues surrounding the severance package of its former Chief Financial Officer.

"The settlement application pertains to matters relating to severance agreement entered into with the former CFO in October 2015," Infosys said in a filing to the stock exchange. "Through the settlement process, the company wants to resolve allegations relating to the Company not seeking prior and separate approval of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and the Audit Committee in relation to the severance agreement with the former CFO; and in relation to disclosures pertaining to the said severance agreement, cessation of payments and initiation of arbitration under the severance agreement."

Former CFO Rajiv Bansal's high severance package was among the concerns that Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy had raised with the then Board and CEO Vishal Sikka earlier this year.

Bansal was reportedly not in favour of the acquisition of Israeli firm Panaya. When Bansal left in 2015, Infosys had agreed to pay him Rs 17.38 crore as severance, about two years of pay. But the company paid out only about Rs 5 crore before suspending the payments.

Infosys in its application on Wednesday has said that the company will "neither admit nor deny the finding of fact or conclusion of law."

SEBI had said in February that it was examining a letter from a whistleblower at Infosys complaining about the company’s CEO Vishal Sikka and the board of directors. As part of the same investigation, it was also going to examine the issue of Bansal's severance pay.

Sikka resigned as Infosys CEO in August this year, saying he was tired of being the subject of "false, baseless, malicious and increasingly personal attacks" surrounding Bansal's severance pay and other corporate governance issues.

After returning to the company following Sikka's exit, Nandan Nilekani, the co-founder and Non-executive Chairman of Infosys’s Board, said in October that he and the Board were “fully persuaded” about the clean chits given to the Panaya deal and Bansal's payout following independent investigations into allegations of wrongdoing.

first published: Dec 6, 2017 08:44 pm

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