Infosys co-founder and former chairman NR Narayana Murthy said he is confident that the company would achieve its target of $20 billion revenue by 2020 under its chief executive officer and managing director Vishal Sikka, who took over the reins a year ago.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the company’s 34th annual general meeting in Bangalore on Monday, Murthy said, “He is a great leader and has aspirational target. We should all support and pray that he succeeds.”
Sikka received Murthy—who stepped down from Infosys board last year and relinquished all positions in the company—by touching his feet. Murthy sat among the audience along with his wife Sudha Murty and son Rohan Murty, who was his executive assistant when Murthy returned from retirement for his brief second stint at the helm of Infosys.
Murthy and family remain shareholders in the IT firm.
At the Infosys AGM, the company leadership reiterated that it expects to achieve industry average growth and has given a guidance of 10-12 per cent revenue growth in the current financial year.
Infosys, which was considered the bellwether for the IT industry, has been a sector laggard for the last few years.
Indian IT industry is estimated to have grown 13 per cent in revenue terms to $146 billion in 2014-15 and is expected to grow 12-14 per cent in the current financial year ending March 2016.
Vishal Sikka, CEO and MD of Infosys, said the company targets an operating margin of 30 per cent and revenue per employee of $80,000 by 2020. He said the new initiatives such as deployment of artificial intelligence and automation and recent acquisitions of companies including Panaya and Skava have started to pay off.
Responding to shareholder queries on recent reports on enquires by the US government on the visa-related issues, R Seshasayee, the new chairman of Infosys, said, “The labour department has done an audit and we have not received any other communication. Beyond that, there is no information.”
About the slower-than-expected growth for the last financial year, Sikka said, “Tech services companies have been facing challenges as the clients we are servicing are experiencing rapid deterioration in their business model.”
Sikka said in the last 11 months he has visited all delivery centres of Infosys and interacted with employees. “I have been travelling constantly and as some of you have seen I was sleeping in airports,” he added, partly in jest, alluding to a picture of him posted by Housing.com CEO Rahul Yadav on social networking sites.
