Infosys Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Salil Parkih, who turned the fortunes of the global software vendor, is learnt to have mocked two independent directors of the company as “Madrasis”, said unnamed ethical employees in a letter to the board.
“The CEO told us, ‘no one in the board understands these things, they are happy as long as the share price is up. Those two Madrasis (Sundaram and Prahlad) and Diva (Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw) make silly points, you just nod and ignore them’,” recalled the whistleblowers in a joint letter to the company’s board on September 20.
Biocon chairperson Shaw is a lead independent director in the 10-member Infosys board while D. Sundaram and D.N. Prahlad are independent directors.
Considered derogatory or a slang word, ‘Madrasi’ is used in northern India for describing people in southern India.
“The word Madrasi is extensively used in northern India when referring to the people in the southern states as a legacy because there was a time when most of the bureaucrats, including secretaries, IAS officers and clerical staff, were from Tamil Nadu, especially Madras,” a political analyst told IANS.
People of other southern states outside Tamil Nadu feel offended or embarrassed when they are called so.
Some unspecified techies of Infosys, calling themselves as “ethical employees”, accused Parekh and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Nilanjan Roy of unethical practices for many quarters.
“Parekh and Roy have been resorting to unethical practices for many quarters, as is evident from their e-mails and voice recordings of their conversations,” said the complainants in the letter to the board, a copy of which has been accessed by IANS.
Parekh also used ‘diva’ for Kira Mazumdar-Shaw although it is commonly used for cine stars, pop stars and fashion models.
The letter also pointed out that several billion dollar deals in the last few quarters were of nil margin.
“In (the) board meetings, we are told not to present data on large deals and important financial measures, as it will get the board’s attention,” recalled the letter.
