Infosys Pay Package Row: Happy To Help, Says Former Board Member

Marti G Subrahmanyam, whose name was suggested as a potential infosys co-chair by co-founder NR Narayana Murthy, on Friday said he will be happy to help with his "counsel if called upon to do so".

The NYU professor, who served on board of Infosys from 1998 until 2011, admitted that paucity of time had led to reduced correspondence with the company once he retired from the board.

Asked about the tension brewing between the board members and founders of India's second-largest software services firm, Mr Subrahmanyam said: "I certainly cannot claim to have any insight into the affairs of the company today." 

He added: "I remain a well-wisher of the company, but do not have any specific views about the affairs of the company simply because I do not have any access to information about what is going on today. I am always happy to help with my counsel if called upon to do so."

Mr Murthy is of the view that Infosys' board needs to be re-constituted so that their governance standards improve.

Stating that Infosys as a bellwether of the industry has an important role to play, Mr Subrahmanyam, in an e-mail to PTI, said he is hopeful that its future will "remain bright".

The rift between the founders of Infosys and its board spilled out in the open today, with co-founder Mr Murthy questioning executive compensation and corporate governance at Infosys.

Mr Murthy, along with other co-founders Nandan Nilekani and S Gopalakrishnan, are believed to have written to Infosys board asking why Mr Sikka's compensation was raised and hefty severance packages offered to two top-level executives who quit the company.

Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka To Address Investors On Monday

Amid the ongoing conflict between the board of Infosys and its founders, its CEO Vishal Sikka is scheduled to meet institutional investors at an event in Mumbai on Monday.

Mr Sikka may brief participating fund managers on issues that have prompted some of the company's co-founders, including N R Narayana Murthy, to publicly air their discontent against the board. He will deliver a keynote address at Kotak's Chasing Growth Conference on February 13 in Mumbai at 10:00 a.m.

Mr Sikka's participation was confirmed by a company spokesperson saying the event was scheduled much before these developments. 

Such events usually see investors and industry analysts asking questions about the macro environment, business prospects and challenges, but given the developments seen in the past few days, clarifications relating to the feud between founders and the board are likely to dominate the proceedings on Monday.

Mr Sikka, along with some of the board members, is also scheduled to interact with the media later in the day to clear the air over various issues flagged by the founders.

Last week, Mr Sikka called members of the senior management to assuage concerns and has advised them not to get "distracted" by the ongoing tussle and instead focus on company's business and strategy.

Mr Murthy, along with other co-founders Nandan Nilekani and S Gopalakrishnan, had written to Infosys board asking why Mr Sikka's compensation was raised and hefty severance packages offered to two top-level executives who quit the company.

Mr Murthy, who has gone public with his views, questioned "paying the former CFO (Rajiv Bansal) a 30-month severance pay".

Infosys, however, has denied any corporate governance lapses, and has emphasised that its board is fully aligned with the strategic direction of Mr Sikka and is very appreciative of the initiatives taken by him in pursuance of this transformation.

Zoom Air - India's Newest Airline - To Begin Operations Soon: Things To Know

Zoom Air, India's newest full-service commuter airline, is set to commence commercial operations from February 15, 2017, with a flight to Durgapur via Kolkata from New Delhi. With this, Gurgaon-headquartered Zoom Air will become the 12th operational carrier in the domestic aviation market. The Zexus Air Services-promoted carrier's inaugural flight took place on February 12, 2017.

Here are a few things to know about Zoom Air:

1) Zoom Air received a scheduled operator permit - which allows it to operate pan-India - from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the country's aviation regulator, earlier this month. 

2) Zoom Air's inaugural flight, using a CRJ 200 LR aircraft, landed at the Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport, Durgapur, at 1:39 pm on Sunday, February 12, where it was accorded the traditional water canon salute.

3) Analysts say the entry of Zoom Air will intensify competition in the domestic aviation market, as it will compete with other domestic airlines Air India, Jet Airways, Vistara, IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and AirAsia India.

A search on Zoom Air's portal showed a one-way flight from Delhi to Kolkata a month after commencement of operations is priced at Rs. 2,850 (inclusive of base fare and fuel charge ofRs. 1,972).

4) The airline "operates to multiple capitals in India hubbing over New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Hyderabad in initial stages offering convenient daily connections between city pairs," as per its website. With a fleet of three dry-leased CRJ 200LR planes, Zoom Air would operate flights to Amritsar, Surat and Bhavnagar from Delhi in its first phase of operations. It will also connect the national capital to Aizawl, Aurangabad, Chandigarh, Dharamshala, Dimapur, Durgapur, Hyderabad, Jorhat, Kolkata, Mumbai and Shillong in Phase 1, it added.

Zoom Air connects, for the first time, Durgapur, West Bengal with daily multiple direct frequencies to Kolkata, New Delhi and Mumbai with premium service on board. Also, for the first time "Meghalaya gets direct Air connectivity Daily to Kolkata and then further to Mumbai, New Delhi and major cities", as per the airline's portal zoomair.in.

Even Good People Make Mistakes: Narayana Murthy To NDTV On Infosys Board

Infosys co-founder and former chairman NR Narayana Murthy today said the company's board must address concerns raised by him about alleged lapses in corporate governance. "No, I have not withdrawn my concern. They have to be addressed properly by the Board and full transparency should be displayed and people responsible for it should become accountable," Mr Murthy told NDTV. Media reports had earlier today quoted Mr Murthy as saying that he does not want to escalate a confrontation with the board. Mr Murthy and other co-founders have flagged worries over issues like a hike in CEO Vishal Sikka's compensation and big severance pay given to former executives.

TCS, Infosys, ITC Add Rs. 40,438 Crore To Market Value In A Week

Three of the 10 most-valued companies added R
s.

40,438.58 crore to their combined market valuation in the week ended February 10, with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) emerging as the biggest gainer.

However, seven others such as Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and ONGC suffered losses of total R

s.

 15,665.14 crore in during the week.

Among the gainers, the market capitalisation or M-Cap of TCS soared by R

s.

 32,108.12 crore to R

s.

 4,72,252.46 crore. The valuation of Infosys zoomed by R

s.

 7,602.89 crore to R

s.

 2,22,355.73 crore while that of ITC by R

s.

 727.57 crore to R

s.

 3,31,103.56 crore. 

On the other hand, ONGC's valuation plunged by R

s.

 9,689.09 crore to R

s.

 2,48,194.77 crore. HDFC Bank's M-Cap slumped by R

s.

 1,739.63 crore to R

s.

 3,33,728.01 crore. The market capitalisation of HDFC tanked by R

s.

 1,196.73 crore to R

s.

 2,20,072.89 crore during the week.

The valuation of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) declined by R

s.

 1,098.85 crore to R

s.

 3,34,215 crore while that of SBI slipped by R

s.

 916.95 crore to R

s.

 2,20,268.06 crore. The market valuation of CIL dropped by R

s.

 806.97 crore to R

s.

 2,01,585.61 crore. Maruti Suzuki, the new entrant to the top 10 list, also suffered a loss of R

s.

 216.92 crore to R

s.

 1,84,595.08 crore.

In the ranking of top 10 firms, TCS led the chart, followed by RIL, HDFC Bank, ITC, ONGC, Infosys, SBI, HDFC, CIL and Maruti.

On a weekly basis, the Sensex recorded a rise of 93.73 points, or 0.33 per cent, while the Nifty gained 52.60 points, or 0.60 per cent, respectively.

Lenovo launches a new tablet similar to the Yoga Book, ditches Windows 10 for Android

Last year, Lenovo introduced a very interesting new device: the Yoga Book. On paper, Lenovo’s Yoga Book looked like a run-of-the-mill device with the latest and greatest specs. But it actually wasn’t a run-of-the-mill device thanks to its Halo keyboard — a full touch-screen keyboard that can also be used as a drawing board. The keyboard vibrates on touch, and it also adapts to your typing habits the more you type on it — which, in turn, makes typing on the device more accurate. With the Yoga Book, Lenovo allowed users to either choose Windows 10 or Android for the operating system and the device’s prices started at $549.

Lenovo is now back with another similar device: the Yoga A12. As the name of the device implies, the Yoga A12 is an Android tablet — and there isn’t any Windows 10 variant available of the device, unlike the original Yoga Book.

LENOVO’S YOGA A12 IS AN AFFORDABLE YOGA BOOK

So what’s different about the Yoga A12? It’s price. Lenovo’s Yoga A12 is an affordable Android tablet that comes with some pretty low-end specs but its prices start at only $299 — that’s $250 less than the original Yoga Book. For $299, you get a 12.2-inch HD screen, the Intel Atom x5 processor, only 2GB of RAM and only two Dolby Atmos speakers. The device also comes with 32GB of internal storage and promises to offer up to 13 hours of battery life on one charge.

For comparison, the original Yoga Book came with Intel’s Atom x5 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a smaller 10.1-inch Full HD display, and offered up to 15 hours of battery life.

YOGA A12 IS “MADE FOR PRODUCTIVITY”

Lenovo opting for Android instead of Windows 10 on the Yoga A12 is actually quite interesting to see, as the company touts the Yoga A12 as an Android tablet “made for productivity.” While Android includes the Microsoft Office suite, it still lacks some of the productivity features that you’ll find on Windows 10. Plus, 2GB RAM on an Android tablet likely won’t offer the ideal experience for productivity — but, to be honest, you probably won’t get a much better experience on Windows 10.

More importantly, Android also doesn’t have Windows 10’s inking features which Microsoft integrates nicely across the operating system. Unlike Android, inking features in Windows 10 are almost everywhere — it’s in the default browser, there’s a dedicated drawing feature (“Windows Ink”), it’s integrated into Sticky Notes, and it’s even in the Maps app. (Yes, Microsoft really loves inking features on its products.)

Lenovo doesn’t seem to be working on a Windows 10 version of its Yoga A12, but don’t be too surprised if the company comes up with a similar device running Windows 10 in the near-future. After all, Lenovo is one of the biggest Windows 10 OEMs and a close partner to Microsoft.

The Lenovo Yoga A12 will be available in Gunmetal Grey and Rose Gold from February 8 on Lenovo.com, prices start at $299. 

Tata Sons shareholders vote to remove Cyrus Mistry from board

Tata Sons Ltd in its extraordinary general meeting on Monday ejected Cyrus P. Mistry from the board of the holding company after shareholders voted in favour of a resolution that had sought his ouster, Tata Sons said in a statement.

“The shareholders of Tata Sons, at the extraordinary general meeting held today, passed, with the requisite majority, a resolution to remove Mr. Cyrus P. Mistry as a Director of Tata Sons,” the company said. Tata Trusts which controls two-third in the closely held firm had requisitioned Tata Sons to call for a shareholder meeting to remove Mistry to maintain confidentiality of the board

Mistry family’s investment firms—Cyrus Investments Pvt. Ltd and Sterling Investments Pvt. Ltd filed a suit at the National Company law Tribunal on 20 December alleging mismanagement at Tata Sons and oppression of minority shareholders.

In its hearing on 31 January, the NCLT gave a green signal to Tata Sons to hold a planned shareholder meeting.

Earlier in January, the Mistry firms filed a contempt of court petition seeking a stay on the Tata Sons EGM. This was dismissed by the NCLT, which asked the firms to club it with their original petition alleging mismanagement of Tata Sons and oppression of minority shareholders.

Dissatisfied with NCLT’s response, the Mistry firms moved the NCALT on 3 February.