Even God can't change Infosys numbers: co-founder Nandan Nilekani on whistleblower complaint

Bengaluru-based information technology services firm Infosys is giving investigators full access to its records to complete the enquiry into the whistleblower allegations, the company’s co-founder and chairman Nandan Nilekani said at an analyst meeting on Wednesday. 

He asserted that even God can’t change the company’s numbers. 

An anonymous group calling itself “ethical employees” had recently accused Infosys of using improper ways to boost revenue and profit numbers. The company has since maintained that it followed due diligence and has appointed Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) to look into the legal side of the complaint. Its internal auditor, Ernst and Young, is also looking at its books.

Infosys chief executive officer Salil Parekh and chief financial officer Nilanjan Roy are at the centre of the whistleblower storm. This is the second such public allegation that the company has faced in recent years.

"Every minute we are meeting employees and customers and we will not miss a beat... Our customers are extremely satisfied and we have proactively reached out to them. We are dealing with these seriously... We have strong processes and even God can't change the numbers of our company,” Nilekani said while responding to multiple queries from investors.  

Nilekani said that the company receives several whistleblower complaints and has followed due procedure while dealing with them. He added that it will not take any action against the whistleblower under any conditions even if the allegations proved to be false, as it has a strong policy to protect the whistleblowers.

Infosys says it will not reveal the full investigation report to the public, citing confidentiality concerns. "The board members are of the highest integrity and they should decide on the release of the full report or not," Nilekani added.

Meanwhile, Infosys has said in a statement to the stock exchanges that it has received letters from the Secretary, National Financial Reporting Authority and the Registrar of Companies, Karnataka, seeking certain information in connection with the whistleblower complaints. The company did not provide more details on the nature of queries from these organisations.

Infosys chief executive officer Salil Parekh and chief financial officer Nilanjan Roy are at the centre of the whistleblower storm. This is the second such public allegation that the company has faced in recent years. Its former CEO Vishal Sikka had resigned from his post in 2017, following a rather public disagreement with Infosys chairman, NR Narayana Murthy.