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Why Narayana Murthy didn`t want to be on Satyam board
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Why Narayana Murthy didn`t want to be on Satyam board
Murthy said it will not be fair on either Satyam or Infosys for him to be a part of the new Satyam team as it could have potentially led to a conflict of interest. He added that the new members on the Satyam board are very impressive.
Murthy added that clients abroad haven`t got in panic mode post the Satyam scandal and they understood that such things could happen everywhere — US, Europe or India.
Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Narayana Murthy on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.
Q: The first question which a lot of people ask after the episode is can we get Mr Murthy involved in some capacity to solve the mess. Newspaper articles were written about it. Did you consider, at any point, involving yourself since you are no longer involved in an executive capacity with Infosys?
A: I did tell the Prime Minister that I am a conflicted body even though I am the Non-Executive Chairman, I am in charge of making sure that the governance mechanism at Infosys is alright, making sure that its strategy is well in making sure that things are alright. We are the largest shareholders of Infosys so we are already conflicted. So I said I would not be the right person.
Q: But you did get a request to involve yourself in some way or the other?
A: There were lot of discussion and that’s what I told both the Prime Minister and Mr. PC Gupta.
Q: Do you think it could be conflictual even to involve yourself in an advisory capacity since Deepak Parekh, who is now in the board, is a close friend of yours for many years?
A: I have lot of respect for Deepak. He is a wonderful friend. I have lot of respect for Kiran Karnik, I do not know Mr. Achuthan. It’s just that even though I am the Non-Executive Chairman, my colleagues have been so kind to me that I am part of discussion on all major decisions. In other words, I know the innards of this company even today. So it will not be fair to Infosys, it will not be fair to Satyam.
Q: Even in the capacity of an advisor to Deepak Parekh if he sought such advice from you?
A: As long as it doesn’t get down to the level of specific customers and as long as there is no conflict of interest between Infosys and Satyam, definitely. We are all members of Nasscom. There are lots of issues that we discuss at Nasscom, so certainly that is exactly what I told Deepak yesterday.
Q: Do you think it’s been a perfect constitution of the board with Deepak, Kiran Karnik, etc? Do you think it could have been better or they are the people to do this job?
A: I think they are excellent choices. Obviously, they will expand the board, so they will bring in a few more skills, experience and expertise but at this point in time. I am very impressed with the choices the government has made.
Q: Seven days have passed now and you spoke on day one, what is your assessment on day seven, day eight of this situation and what kind of collateral damage, if any, it can have on the sector or the impression of Indian IT because now you would have got direct feedback from some of your large clients as well?
A: I don’t deal with our clients directly but Gopal Krishnan deals with them and I have had discussions with him. The feeling that we get is that the clients understand that these things have happened in the US, in Europe, they have happened now in India so they just want to get on with life, they just want to make sure they are de-risked. They just want to make sure that things are alright with them.
So, in some cases they will sit down with Satyam and make sure that there is higher level of governance mechanism, higher level of customer focus. In some cases, they may want to go to an alternate vendor, it all depends on individuals. However, I do think there is no panic; there is no feeling that the entire Indian industry is bad; there is no such thing.
Q: You said you would not involve yourself directly in the matters of Satyam now because the board is there in place but do you think you could do something to address the concerns which global clients or outsourcers have on the IT sector if any because on day one or day two you did a conference call with a large number of investors which was hosted by CLSA. Do you think you could do similar things with NASSCOM and you fronting it so that the image of Indian IT or vendors do not get dented even to the slightest extent?
A: Certainly whatever little value I can add to ensure that the Indian software industry continues its march towards higher and higher revenues, towards greater and greater glory – absolutely....
Source:
http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/newsarticle/news_print.php?autono=377421&sr_no
