Infosys: Of Culture And Merit

Infosys, india’s second largest IT company by 2017 revenues, was established in 1981 as Infosys Consultants by seven engineers: N.R. Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, S. Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh, N.S. Raghavan, and Ashok Arora in Pune, India, with an initial capital of $250. The company’s annual revenue touched $100 million in 1999, $1 billion in 2004, and $10 billion in 2017.

“Our fiscal 2018 results demonstrate the underlying strength of our business. Our revenue was $10.9 billion, which grew at 5.8 per cent in constant currency from the previous year. Our operating margin was 24.3 per cent and profit after tax was $2.5 billion. Cash provided by operating activities was $2.3 billion.” said Salil Parekh, MD & CEO, Infosys in a letter to the shareholders. After Vishal Sikka stepped down from the chief executive’s post in 2017, Infosys appointed Parekh as the company’s MD & CEO with effect from 2 January.

During the financial year ended March, the company delivered a resilient financial performance on multiple fronts, including robust cash flow, strong EPS growth, and healthy return on equity. According to the company, the performance was primarily driven by productivity improvements and capital management. The overall revenue growth was 72 per cent in dollar term and 5.8 per cent in constant currency. The overall revenue growth was witnessed due to healthy growth in digital revenues. The digital revenues exceeded 25 per cent of the total revenues of the company.

Last year, Infosys committed to hire 10,000 American workers and establishing technology and innovation hubs in the US over the next two years. This was to help nurture the next generation of the increasingly digital future. At present, the first of Infosys’s technology and innovation hubs is already active in Indianapolis with three more hubs on their way to becoming operational. More than 3,000 American workers have already been welcomed for this.

The revenue from operations on a consolidated basis increased by 3.0 per cent to Rs 70,522 crore in fiscal 2018. The software export revenues aggregated to Rs 68,291 crore, up from Rs 66,304 crore in the previous year. Out of the total revenue, 60.4 per cent came from North America, 23.7 per cent from Europe, 12.7 from the rest of the world, and 3.2 per cent from India.

A pioneer of the Indian IT industry, this year, Infosys won multiple international and national awards and recognition for business and management, banking, ERP services, technology services, sustainability and human resources. An early adopter of CSR activities, Infosys is tapping the social responsibility initiative ecosystem in India through its CSR trust, the Infosys Foundation. The Infosys Foundation was established in 1996 for social welfare activities.
The Foundation supports projects in eradication of hunger and malnutrition, and at the same time promoting eduation, rural development projects, art and culture, healthcare, environment sustainability, destitute care and rehabilitation, and disaster relief.

Infosys is celebrating its 25th year of public listing in India this year and will be celebrating 20 years of global listing next year.