On Nandan Nilekani's to-do list: Build future-ready strategy, Infosys board

Nandan Nilekani, non-executive chairman of Infosys, has promised to bring stability back to India’s second-largest software exporter in spite of a “complex environment”. He, however, has a bigger task at hand — building a strong and independent board.

The abrupt restructuring of directors and the board’s U-turn from accusing N R Narayana Murthy to almost apologising to the Infosys co-founder immediately after Nilekani’s return, have left observers concerned.

Analysts say it is unclear whether Infosys would make the Panaya acquisition investigation report public, one of the key demands of Murthy. This is despite Nilekani having made it clear that he would take a call after evaluating the reports.

“Who was actually in control of the company? The board has changed and the six directors have been changed. The CEO has also changed….,” said Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director of InGovern Research, a proxy advisory firm. “From foreign institutional institutions’ perspective, they would be keen to know who was in control.”

Nilekani has said that the firm would adhere to the highest standards of corporate governance that Murthy — whom he calls the father of corporate governance — had set. “I think there is a massive amount of digital disruption happening today at a very accelerated pace, and, obviously, there are people who understand that that would be helpful,” Nilekani told analysts on Friday.