The great Infosys divide: Vishal Sikka addresses investors at Mumbai conference

In the midst of the ongoing conflict between the Infosys' board of directors and its founders, the CEO of the technology and consulting company-Infosys, Vishal Sikka addressed the investors on the occasion of Kotak's Chasing Growth Conference (February 13-15) in Mumbai. This is the first time he spoke publicly since the Infosys row broke out.

Vishal Sikka briefed the investors while talking about the company's growth and the changes it made after his arrival. He said that the sales performance of the company has improved significantly in the last 2 years and the attrition rate is now below 15 per cent, as against 23.4 per cent, in comparison to the time when he joined. 

Sikka also talked about building a digital luxury store for a retail client, adding that around 1,30,000 employees have been trained in design thinking. Though he mentioned that the consulting business has been an area of concern, he emphasised how automation plays a huge role in the renewal of existing business and said that the strategic execution of the same has started to show better results.

Meanwhile, appreciating the fact that MANA, the knowledge based artificial intelligence platform has been significant in achieving an automation-led productivity, Sikka laid emphasis on the zero bench project, which he said has been deeply ingrained in the company, reaching almost 100 per cent of implementation. The CEO concluded by saying that the company is simplifying services ability and internal processes, adding how this has helped him in keeping the margin steady, despite the challenging environment. 

On being questioned about his relationship with the co-founder, the man in question, Sikka, said that he shares a heart-warming relationship with Narayan Murthy, the founder of the much talked about IT service based company. Infosys' board members, through their talks, have so far, indicated that they are willing to discuss and settle outstanding issues as they have learned some lessons from this episode, having realised that their differences were just a matter of perception.