25 years of Infosys listing: India’s second-largest IT company Infosys Ltd completed 25 years of stock market listing on Thursday, 14 June 2018. Over the course of last 25 years, Infosys Ltd has been one of the best blue-chip company so far in terms of stock returns, revenue growth and other financial parameters. Despite facing a stiff competition from other heavyweight industry peers such as TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), Wipro, Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies, Infosys Ltd’s 25-year listing history has projected the company as a successful venture.
As Infosys Ltd finishes the 25th year of being listed on India’s share market, we take a look at the 25-year journey of India’s IT behemoth, summing up issues ranging from stock market performance to corporate governance in 25 points.
- Infosys stock returns: Infosys Ltd launched its IPO (initial public offering) in February 1993 and made its stock market debut on 14 June 1993. Infosys share price has returned more than 1600% to Rs 1245.6 (adjusted to all bonuses, stock split, etc). Incorporating all bonus issues, stock splits and the appreciation in share price, Rs 10,000 invested in Infosys shares at the time of IPO, has turned into well over Rs 2 crore in the span of 25 years.
- Market cap: Infosys Ltd is the second-largest IT company in India by net sales, just behind the Tata Group’s cash cow TCS. Infosys features among the top 10 companies by market capitalisation on Indian stock exchanges. According to Wednesday’s closing, Infosys Ltd commands a market capitalisation of Rs 2.79 lakh crore on BSE.
- IPO: Infosys Ltd IPO was launched in February 1993 following which it got listed in June 1993. Shares of Infosys made a blockbuster debut at the stock market as the share price rallied more than 50% to Rs 145 in the opening trade as against an issue price of Rs 95 per equity share.
- Global listing of Infosys shares: Upon the successful debut on the domestic bourses, Infosys Ltd tapped foreign stock markets with regard to the listing. In early-1999, Infosys Ltd issued about 20.7 lakh ADSs (American Depositary Shares), at $34 per ADS. These ADSs were listed on the New York-based world’s second-largest stock exchange NASDAQ. Earlier in December 2012, Infosys’ ADSs were transferred to NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) from NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations). Subsequently, in 2013, Infosys ADSs were listed on Euronext London and Euronext Paris.
- Bonuses and stock split: Infosys Ltd has announced 11 bonus issues and one stock split since inception. Interestingly, in the 25-year long listing history, Infosys has never missed distributing dividends since the year 2000, as the data available with BSE.
- N R Narayana Murthy: Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, now 71, was one of the co-founders of Infosys. N R Narayana Murthy was the longest running CEO of Infosys from 1981 to 2002. He served as the Chairman of the board from 2002 to 2006. After this, he became the Chief Mentor of the company. N R Narayana Murthy resigned from Infosys in the year 2011 and presently holds the title of Chairman Emeritus.
- Nandan Nilekani as Chairman, Co-Founder, CEO: Nandan Nilekani was one of the seven co-founders who started Infosys in 1981. Over the 25 years of Infosys listing, Nandan Nilekani has handled many portfolios including CEO, Co-Chairman and Non-Executive Chairman. Nandan Nilekani became CEO of Infosys after N R Narayana Murthy resigned from the post in 2002. After completing 5 years as CEO of Infosys, Nilekani resigned in 2007 and served as the Co-Chairman of the board. After the sudden exit of Vishal Sikka, Nandan Nilekani returned to Infosys as the Non-Executive Chairman.
- First non-Infosys CEO — Vishal Sikka: Vishal Sikka became the first non-founder to serve as MD & CEO of Infosys. Vishal Sikka stepped down from the post of MD & CEO on 18 August 2017 which appeared to happen as a sudden resignation, likely because of the managerial conflicts with the board.
- Corporate governance issue: Late into the tenure of Infosys’ last full-time MD & CEO Vishal Sikka, one after other issues gripped the company with regard to the corporate governance. The corporate governance tussle at Infosys, involving founder N R Narayana Murthy, CEO Vishal Sikka and the company’s board took its toll. Vishal Sikka left the company on a sour note after a long-drawn public spat.
- The founders: Infosys Ltd was founded on 7 July 1981 by N R Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, S Gopalakrishnan, S D Shibulal, K Dinesh, N S Raghavan and Ashok Arora.
- Name change: Initially, Infosys Ltd was incorporated as Infosys Consultants Pvt Ltd. The name was changed to Infosys Technologies Pvt Ltd in April 1992. Before the company went public in 1993, the name was changed to Infosys Technologies Ltd in June 1992. Later in 2011, Infosys Technologies Ltd was renamed to Infosys Ltd.
- Shareholding pattern: Since the listing in 1993, the promoter group shareholding has reduced considerably following the stake sales and tendering of stocks during the share buyback program. According to the latest shareholding data available at BSE, promoter and promoter group shareholding stood at 12.9%.
- CEOs: During the history of 36 years of incorporation and 25 years of listing, Infosys has had six CEOs. N R Narayana Murthy’s term was the longest. Notably, Vishal Sikka was the first non-promoter CEO of Infosys whose term ended on a sour note. Here is the list of Infosys CEOs — N R Narayana Murthy (1981-2002), Nandan Nilekani (2002-2007), S Gopalakrishnan (2007-2011), S D Shibulal (2011-2014), Vishal Sikka (2014-2017), U B Pravin Rao [Interim] (August 2017-December 2017); and Salil Parekh (2018-present).
- Headquarters: Infosys Ltd is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Infosys Ltd has several campuses in India including Mysuru, Pune and Chennai. According to the Infosys website, Infosys has 82 sales offices around the world as of 31 March 2018, of which three are in India and 79 are outside India.
- Areas of operation: Infosys Ltd is an end-to-end provider of business solutions based on technology. Infosys’ key areas of operations include software life cycle which involves consulting, technology, engineering and outsourcing services. Further, Infosys Ltd offers customised software products and platforms.
- Major acquisitions: Over the 25-year listing journey, Infosys has acquired many companies under the leadership of CEOs such as N R Narayana Murthy to the present Salil Parekh. Some of the notable acquisitions so far include Lodestone Holding AG (2012) and Panaya (2015).
- Total Workforce: Infosys Ltd and all its subsidiaries had 2,04,107 employees at the end of 31 March 2018.
- Latest AGM day, date and venue: Infosys’ 37th Annual General Meeting is scheduled to held on 23 June 2018, Saturday at Christ University Auditorium, Hosur Road, Bengaluru 560029, Karnataka, India.
- Credit rating: The credit rating of Infosys Ltd is A- (Standard & Poor’s rating) and 5A1 (Dun & Bradstreet rating).
- Millionaire employees: With the rising valuations, a huge number of Infosys employees have become millionaires within the span of 25 years of listing due to its ESOPs (Employee Stock Options) program.
- Latest revenue and profit: Infosys reported a consolidated revenue of Rs 73,715 crore for the financial year of 2017-2018 while the net profit during the same period stood at Rs 16,372 crore.
- Total assets: At the end of 31 March 2018, Infosys Ltd has total assets worth Rs 79,890 crore.
- Goodwill: Infosys Ltd commands a goodwill of Rs 2,211 crore as at 31 March 2018.
- Cash reserves: At the end of 31 March 2018, Infosys had Rs 19,818 crore in cash and cash equivalents.
- Debt-free: Infosys Ltd is a zero debt company. Infosys doesn’t have any outstanding debt or fixed deposits.
