Performance check: Infosys beat benchmark, IT peers on Vishal Sikka's watch

Vishal Sikka | Infosys: The former CEO and MD of the IT giant was hand-picked by Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy in 2014 to lead the company during a time when it was battling a severe slowdown, amid broader challenges in the industry. But soon, Sikka came under fire from Murthy himself, who attacked several decisions taken at Infosys besides Sikka's supposed lavish lifestyle. For Sikka, the final straw appeared to be a leaked letter by the co-founder, in which he said Sikka was only 'CTO material, not CEO material'. The board, which sided with Sikka at the time, attacked Murthy's campaign for carrying out 'continuous assaults' against the CEO. (Image: Reuters)

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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On August 1, 2014, Vishal Sikka walked into the Infosys campus as the company's first outside CEO.

His mandate was clear: turn around the company's flagging performance -- Infosys had fallen behind peers in revenue growth and its stock had underperformed for years.

Three years on, he has resigned from the position, following a series of murky allegations by Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy questioning both his executive decisions and lifestyle.

Also read: Repeated 'assaults' by Narayana Murthy led to Vishal Sikka's exit, says Infosys board

Following the resignation announcement, Infosys stock fell over 9 percent, driving home the market's disappointment with the development.

During Sikka's tenure, the company’s stock jumped 22 percent from Rs 835.33 on August 1, 2014 at close to Rs 1,020.85 on Thursday. (Interestingly, shares of its rival TCS rose.)

In the three year period, Infosys stock outperformed all of its large peers — Wipro, TCS and HCL Tech. Rival TCS fell 1.4 percent during the period, while Wipro rose 7.8 percent and Tech Mahindra fell 20.2 percent.

Infosys also outperformed the S&P BSE Information Technology, with the index rising only 9 percent during the period.

In his letter to the board of directors, he said: “I came here to help navigate the company through what I saw as a massive transformation opportunity, to transform our company and restore strong profitable growth. We have achieved much in the last 3+ years, and for sure we can all be proud of the powerful seeds of transformation that have already been sowed.”

Also read: Full text: What Vishal Sikka said in his resignation letter to Infosys

The board of directors of Infosys is expected to meet on Saturday to consider a buyback proposal of up to Rs 13,000-crore share. In fact, the stock was one of the top gainers in trade on Thursday, supporting the benchmark index.