Mumbai: Infosys shares rose for the third consecutive day on Thursday after reports that former chief executive Nandan Nilekani may return to the board to help the software services exporter launch its latest controversy.
The council has been locked in a row for months with the company’s founders, led by former President Narayana Murthy, who have accused the directors of government ties. Vishal Sikka stepped down as CEO last week amid what he said were “unfounded/malicious and increasingly personal attacks” – triggering a sale and erasing billions of dollars of the company’s market value.
Nilekani will become the non-executive chairman of Infosys in the next few days, the Times of India reported, adding that it would come for a predetermined period to achieve a series of goals, including hiring a new CEO.
This follows a request this week from a group of 12 major institutional investors at Infosys to bring Nilekani back to the card to try to appease the fight with the founders.
CNBC-TV18 also said that Nilekani would likely return as the head of the company, which was once the child of India’s IT sector cartel.
Nilekani, one of the company’s co-founders who served as its CEO from 2002 to 2007, could not be reached for comment.
At 05:30 GMT, Infosys shares were trading 2.2 percent more in a market in Mumbai that had little change.
