Drama in media is distracting, says Sikka

Infosys chief underplays dispute with Narayana Murthy at an investor conference.

February 13, 2017 / 12:29 IST

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Malini BhuptaMoneycontrol

A day after members of the Infosys Board countered charges of founders and former employees, CEO Vishal Sikka spoke at length at an investor conference in Mumbai about the company’s performance metrics and his heartfelt, warm relationship with founder NR Narayana Murthy. While he left no stone unturned to demonstrate that the company was on a firm footing now than it was when he took over in 2014, he said “the drama in media is distracting”.

Sikka said he meets Mr Murthy quite frequently and that they “…talk about quantum physics and technology. I have not seen Nandan (Nilekani) for over a year and I have a heartfelt and warm relationship with Mr Murthy. The drama in media is distracting but beneath that is a strong fabric the company is built on.”

Refusing to respond to the charges, Sikka chose to instead speak on how he was focused on creating an atmosphere within the company that elevates everybody. While talking about transforming the company’s culture through constant learning, Sikka said: “Creating an atmosphere that elevates everybody is important. It is easy to change the top leadership team but what happens to people down the line.” Sikka also credited Murthy for having created a strong learning culture within Infosys, which was helping him drive change and new thinking.

On the issue of capital allocation and share buybacks, Sikka said from time-to-time the board considered the capital allocation policy of the company. The broad direction of the capital allocation policy focuses on three things - strategic growth, employees benefits and acquisition. He said: “Tomorrow’s technology is expensive and I don’t want to buy anything that is yesterday’s technology,” added Sikka.