The results will give an indication whether Nilekani would continue with the software plus services strategy adopted by Sikka, or tweak it to reflect his worldview of the explosion in data.
Infosys, India’s second-largest information technology (IT) services firm, has deferred announcing its second-quarter (Q2) results by nearly two weeks - the first time in recent years.
The bellwether IT services firm generally discloses its quarter numbers within 15 days of the beginning of the next quarter but this time, however, it has set October 24 as the date of announcement.
Infosys has attributed this delay to “logistics issues”. The following week has holidays on account of Diwali, resulting in a further delay by a week.
Sources aware of the development said non-executive chairman Nandan Nilekani had engagements on the earlier scheduled dates, and they were fixed before he rejoined the company.
The Infosys numbers are eagerly watched by analysts and investors because its performance indicates the future of the $117-billion technology services sector.
“This time certain logistics issues during the early second week (12th or 13th of the month) and the festivities the week after have resulted in a deferment,” said an Infosys spokesperson.
An analyst with a brokerage pointed to the completion of the share buyback set for the first week of October.
“Infosys has announced that the voting window on the share buyback and other resolutions will remain open till October 8.
The shareholders’ voting process will take its own time. So Infosys will require time before it could announce its financials,” said the analyst with a brokerage firm.
The July-September results will be the first after Nandan Nilekani’s return to the company, which he has rejoined as non-executive chairman.
Nilekani returned last month to head Infosys, which he had co-founded with N R Narayana Murthy and five others, after a three-year experiment with an outsider as chief executive officer (CEO) had failed.
Vishal Sikka, the first non-founder CEO, quit Infosys, citing personal attacks on him, for which the company, under its previous chairman R Seshasayee, blamed Murthy.
Murthy had publicly raised concerns over corporate governance in the severance pay given to Rajiv Bansal, former chief financial officer who had raised the red flag in the acquisition of Panaya, an Israeli technology firm.
Murthy had also sought making public an investigation report that looked into the Panaya acquisition and had given the company’s management the clean chit.
The resulting public spat between the Infosys board and Murthy depressed investor confidence with the stock losing more than Rs 32,000 crore (Rs 320 billion) in market capitalisation in the next two days.
This also made investors and a few board members, along with the founders, to persuade Nilekani to return. When he took charge, Seshasayee and two independent board members, Jeffrey Lehman and John Etchemendy, quit the company.
Subsequently Nilekani outlined his plan: Hiring executive search firm Egon Zehnder to help in selecting a CEO; and asking board members D N Prahlad and Ravi Venkatesan to take stock of Sikka’s strategy and also to look at the investigation report on Panaya.
The results will give an indication whether Nilekani would continue with the software plus services strategy adopted by Sikka, or tweak it to reflect his worldview of the explosion in data and how Infosys could help traditional companies battle competition from start-ups that rely on data to disrupt businesses and sectors.
Photograph: Jagadeesh NV/Reuters
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