Infosys crisis: Co-chair Ravi Venkatesan meets India finance minister

Infosys co-chairman Ravi Venkatesan today met finance minister Arun Jaitley amid the uncertainty surrounding the company following the sudden resignation of its CEO Vishal Sikka.

According to sources, Venkatesan met the minister and is believed to have apprised him of the developments at Infosys as also the steps being taken to keep the shareholders informed.

Infosys was not available for comment.

Last Friday, the first non-founder CEO of Infosys, Sikka resigned from the company following months of acrimony with high-profile founders, led by NR Narayana Murthy, citing "malicious" and "personal attacks" on him.

While Sikka did not name Murthy for his exit, the Board of the $10 billion firm blamed the founder for "continuous assault" through "factually inaccurate" and "already-disproved rumours" for the resignation of the CEO.

Murthy, however, maintained that his only concerns are the lapses in corporate governance standards, something that Infosys was admired for at one point.

However, the developments of the day (August 18) sent the company's stocks plummeting nearly 10 per cent, with its market valuation falling by over Rs 22,518 crore in a single day.

Once the poster boy of Indian IT success story and considered a bellwether among Indian tech stocks, Infosys has had to battle challenges like an uncertain business environment, senior level exits and increased visa scrutiny in key markets like the US and the UK.

Troubles mounted for Infosys when an anonymous letter was sent to the market regulators in February this year, alleging that its acquisition of Panaya was overvalued and that some Infosys executives may have benefited from the deal.

While an independent probe absolved the board of any wrong doing, Murthy kept insisting that the company goes public with the full contents of the investigation report. Infosys has so far refused to make it public.