The 35th AGM of Infosys went off much smoother for CEO and Managing Director Vishal Sikka, who has been given the charge to resurrect its fortunes.

Last year’s AGM, held here, where around 400 shareholders had gathered the mood was pensive. A section of shareholders even wanted Murthy to come back. Some of them reasoned that if SEBI can ask for help from Murthy, why not Infosys?

While a lot of shareholders still adore Murthy, with one of them calling him ‘Bhishma pitamaha’ of the IT industry, majority of the shareholders in the 2016 AGM, seemed to have bought into Sikka’s turnaround strategy and along with it, possibly that of the $143-billion IT industry, if it has to stay relevant.

“The way of the future for the company is to be proactive problem finders rather than reactive problem fixers,” he said acknowledging Murthy’s hand in coining the above quote. That change in mindset seems to have started sinking in for the last 21 months since he took over. Of course, the company declared a bonus issue, consistent dividends and its revenue performance in the year grew by 17.1 per cent in rupee terms also were key factors in giving shareholders what they want.

Chairman R Seshasayee even cleared the air on some reports on former CFO Rajiv Bansal’s large exit payout (₹23 crore). Seshasayee dismissed speculation that Infosys paid a high severance package to “silence him” and added that his exit was “cordial” and a “mutually agreed decision.”

However, as always shareholders wanted more. While some harped on additional bonus, others wanted Infosys to address some of the civic issues faced by the Silicon Valley of India.

“There is a need to address civic issues such as garbage disposal, water supply, waste management as some of the many things staring at the government, which has prompted some of the companies to look towards neighbouring States like Andhra and Telangana.

While Sikka talked about the ways in which technology is reshaping lives, coupled with automation and Artificial Intelligence, shareholders had reservations. “On the one hand you say that our company can do some industry firsts and on the other hand wouldn’t this not create a large unemployment problem,” asked a young shareholder.

Sikka replied that having studied from some great AI pioneers, like all technologies of the past, this can amplify people; enabling them to focus on creative work.

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