Infosys v/s Rajiv Bansal: All You Need To Know About The Arbitration Case

Infosys, the country’s second-largest information technology services firm, has lost an arbitration battle against its former chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal over his severance package.

Infosys has lost an arbitration battle against its former chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal over his severance package. The arbitration tribunal has directed the IT firm to pay Bansal the pending amount of Rs 121.70 million with interest. Infosys’s counterclaim for refunding the previously paid severance amount of Rs 52 million has also been rejected.

In October 2015, Infosys’s then CFO Rajiv Bansal quit, and one of the reasons for his exit was attributed to his differences with the management over the acquisition of Panaya, an Israeli automation software company it acquired for $200 million.

Bansal was offered a severance package of Rs 174 million by the previous board headed by R Seshasayee. The unprecedented level of severance package, which was equivalent to close to 24 months of his salary, sparked a huge controversy.

Infosys revealed about the Rs 180 mn severance payout in its annual report. Narayana Murthy’s questions over governance led to halting of the assured payout after the initial payment of Rs 50 million.

Subsequently, Bansal approached the arbitration tribunal, seeking payment of pending amount, with former Supreme Court Justice R V Raveendran acting as the sole arbitrator.

In response to Bansal’s claim, Infosys filed counter-claim seeking for the refund of the initial severance payment of Rs 52 million and damages from Bansal. The Bengaluru-headquartered IT company alleged Bansal for breach of trust and non-fulfilment of obligation.

While Infosys said it would take legal advice before taking necessary actions, corporate governance experts hinted that the IT services firm might not choose to contest the case any further. – Business Standard