Bengaluru-headquartered global IT technology major, Infosys, has inadvertently been caught in cross-hairs in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

This, after a television reporter in the UK, questioned the country’s Chancellor of Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, on Infosys’ Russia operations, even as Western countries, led by the USA and UK have imposed sanctions on the Kremlin and are exhorting private companies to do the same.

Family connection

Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy’s daughter, Akshata, is married to Sunak, and holds a 0.91 per cent stake in the company, valued at a little over ₹7,100 crore.

Sunak clarified that he was an elected politician while his wife was not, and that he had “nothing to do” with Infosys in which his wife holds shares. “I am here to talk about what I am responsible for. We’ve put in place significant sanctions, the companies we’re responsible for are following those, as they rightly should,” the UK Chancellor added. When the reporter persisted, Sunak further said companies’ operations were “up to them”.

Company responds

Responding to a detailed BusinessLine questionnaire, an Infosys spokesperson in a statement, said, “At this point, we do not foresee any impact on delivery or services for our clients from our eastern European centres, and have activated necessary business continuity protocols. Infosys has a small team of less than 100 employees based out of Russia, that services some of our global clients, locally. We do not have any active business relationships with local Russian enterprises. A key priority for Infosys in times of adversity, is to continue extending support to the community. The company has committed $1 million towards relief efforts for the victims of war in Ukraine.”

A veteran of the Indian IT industry, who did not want to be identified as his company is a competitor to Infosys, said: “It is unfortunate that personal holdings of a family member is being made into an issue. Sunak is being targetted partly due to the domestic politics in the UK. Otherwise why should Infosys or any Indian IT company be targetted even as Europeans continue to trade and buy energy from Russia? For the IT industry, our main markets are in the US and Europe, with Russia being very miniscule and the industry will not jeopardise that.”

As of December 31, 2021, while all promoters collectively held 13.15 per cent stake, the Murthy family cumulatively held 3.34 per cent shares. These include co-founder Narayana Murthy’s 0.39 per cent, his wife Sudha N Murthy’s 0.81 per cent, their son Rohan Murthy’s 1.43 per cent and Akshata’s 0.91 per cent stake.

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