Infosys' AGM today will not feature familiar faces

Ever since it started in 1981, Infosys has seen many annual general meetings. But the 34th annual general meeting by the company on Monday is significant on many counts. This is the first AGM of the company where none of its founding members will be present.

K V Kamath, the celebrity banker, who had become the face of the company in the past four years post the retirement of N R Narayana Murthy, will also be absent.

Kamath had joined the Infosys board as an independent director in 2011. He then played varied roles such as non-executive chairman and lead independent director and more importantly was instrumental in the selection of Vishal Sikka as the first non-founder CEO & MD of the Bengaluru-based company.

Kamath stepped down from the board after his nomination as the head of the BRICS New Development Bank, earlier this month.

“Kamath, my mentor and (now former) Infosys Chairman, and a key influence in my joining Infosys, stepped down to take over as the first President of the BRICS New Development Bank. He is an amazing man, a natural leader, a unique combination of spirituality and practicality, of great vision and dreams, and great execution and discipline,” Sikka wrote in a blog posted the company’ website late Saturday.

“As happy as I am to see him lead this great new institution for humanity, I will really miss him,” he added.

After Kamath stepped down earlier this month, the company appointed R Seshasayee as the non-executive chairman.

Sikka said, during the last one year of his interaction with Seshasayee, he has become a mentor for him.

“In the last year that I've interacted with him, Seshasayee has become a mentor to me, a learned and balanced voice of reason, diligence, vast experience, deep rooted humanity, and of utmost integrity. I'm looking forward to working with him,” he added.

During the company’s 33rd AGM held in June last year, Sikka had received strong backing from the shareholders.

“We believe Vishal Sikka is the right guy and a right choice that the company has made. He is an outsider who has made way as the first non-founding CEO, purely on merit,” a shareholder had said.

Among the familiar faces in the Infosys board who would be missed in the dais today are Murthy himself, the two co-founders S Gopalakrishnan and S D Shibulal. While Murthy ended his second-innings at Infosys' board on October 10, 2014 along with Gopalakrishnan, Shibulal stepped down from all his roles at the company on July 31, 2014.

Besides, Srinath Batni, a 22-year Infosys veteran also stepped down from Infosys board in July last year while independent directors Omkar Goswami and Jeff Lehman completed their terms in December 2014 and April 2015, respectively.