Infosys BPO Sacks CFO For Breaching Code Of Conduct, Unit's CEO Resigns On Moral Grounds

Infosys BPO, the back-office services subsidiary of Infosys Ltd., has sacked its chief financial officer Abraham Mathews for breaching the company’s code of conduct, India’s second-largest software services provider said in a statement on Tuesday.

The company didn’t disclose details about what Mathews did, but added CEO Gautam Thakkar had resigned, taking moral responsibility for his subordinate’s actions.

Infosys BPO's board “announced the separation of Mr. Abraham Mathews, its Chief Financial Officer from the services of the company for not complying with its code of conduct. This departure is in keeping with the company’s goal of setting the highest standards of corporate governance and adhering to the letter and spirit of the company’s code of conduct,” the company said in the statement.

Thakkar will stay on until Nov. 30 to assist in the transition to Infosys BPO’s new CEO Anup Uppadhayay, previously a senior vice president and head of delivery for financial services, Infosys BPO said in the statement.

Deepak Bhalla, an associate vice president and head of the corporate accounting group at the company, has been named as Mathews' replacement at the back office subsidiary, which contributed 5.3 percent of Infosys' consolidated annual revenues at the end of the company's fiscal second quarter that ended Sept. 30.

As Infosys attempts to sustain its turnaround, on the back of better results in recent quarters, senior executives are under tremendous pressure to deliver. Founder Narayana Murthy, who returned from retirement in June 2013 to get Infosys back on track, named Vishal Sikka as CEO, has said senior executives must justify their large salaries or leave. Sikka, who was chief technology officer at SAP SE, is the company's first non-founding member to take on the leadership role.