Life Insurance Corporation Raises Stake in Infosys

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) said it has acquired an additional two% stake in Infosys in over three years ending February 2017, taking its total shareholding in the Bengaluru-based software major to 7.02%. The disclosure comes at a time when the company's founders and its board have clashed over the issues of corporate governance, CEO compensation and severance pay of former CFO.

LIC said in a filing to the BSE that it has acquired about 4.63 crore shares or 2.016% stake, thus taking its total holding in Infosys to 7.023%. The transactions were made through market purchases between September 26, 2013 and February 07, 2017, it said. LIC said that the equity share capital/total voting capital of Infosys after the deal stood unchanged at 229.6 crore shares of face value of Rs. 5. Over the last few days, Infosys has come under fire from its founders like N R Narayana Murthy, who have raised concerns on corporate governance lapses and questioned the compensation paid to CEO Vishal Sikka.

Mr Murthy and other co-founders Nandan Nilekani and S Gopalakrishnan have written to Infosys board asking why Mr Sikka's compensation was raised and hefty severance packages offered to two top-level executives who quit the company. Mr Sikka was paid Rs. 48.7 crore in base salary, bonus and benefits last year as compared to base salary of Rs. 4.5 crore for a partial period in 2015.Mr Murthy has questioned "paying the former CFO (Rajiv Bansal) a 30-month severance pay which amounted to Rs. 23 crore".Infosys, however, has denied any corporate governance lapses, and emphasised that its board is fully aligned with the strategic direction of Mr Sikka and is very "appreciative of the initiatives taken by him in pursuance of this transformation".