Infosys denies promoters selling stake in company

Infosys Ltd denied a media report on Friday that the founders of India's second-biggest software services exporter were looking to sell their entire 12.75% stake in the company.

"Infosys would like clarify reports in the media speculating on plans of stake sale by the promoters. This speculation has already been categorically denied by the promoters," the IT major said in a statement.

The statement also appealed to the media against speculative stories.

Following the media report, Infosys shares took a hit falling as much as 3.5%, they were still down 1.7% at 1:15pm, on Wednesday.

Infosys founders', led by Narayana Murthy, have publicly accused the company's board of lapses in corporate



governance, forcing the company to appoint a co-chairman to the board and a $2 billion payout to shareholders in the fiscal year to March 2018.

Murthy has also criticised pay hikes given to chief executive Vishal Sikka and operations chief Pravin Rao, and severance payouts given to executives, including former finance head Rajiv Bansal.

The row comes at a time when the Indian IT sector is facing headwinds in its biggest market, the United States, as President Donald Trump and his administration lean towards changing visa rules and hiking wages that could hit outsourcing firms.

Sikka has said that Infosys was likely to struggle to reach its ambitious $20 billion revenue target by 2020 due to a "challenging environment".