Infosys rises 2% on Nandan Nilekani return buzz

New Delhi: Shares of Infosys rose 2 per cent on Thursday amid reports that co-founder and former CEO Nandan Nilekani may return to the board of the crisis-hit IT major.

The stock rose 2.01 per cent to settle at Rs 912.50 on the BSE. During the trading session, it had spurted by 2.71 per cent to touch the day's high of Rs 918.80.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the stock closed 2.09 per cent higher at Rs 911.50. During the day, the scrip had touched a high of Rs 918.25 and a low of Rs 902.35.

Following an uptick in the share price, the IT giant's market capitalisation rose by Rs 4,134.65 crore to Rs 2,09,598.35 crore on the BSE.

A total of 13.04 lakh shares changed hands on the BSE, while 2.12 crore scrips were traded on the NSE.

The rise comes a day after as many as 12 fund managers, representing institutional investors at Infosys, suggested bringing Nilekani back on the board of the IT major to restore confidence of stakeholders and help resolve the leadership crisis.

This is the second major pitch for Nilekani after investor advisory firm IiAS said the co-founder, who had served as CEO between March 2002 to April 2007 and later went on to head the UIDAI, should be brought back on to the Infosys board as its non-executive chairman.

Sources said the 12 fund mangers, in a joint letter written to Infosys chairman, among others, said Nilekani enjoys confidence of various stakeholders, including customers, shareholders and employees.

"Given his credentials, we feel that his joining the board at this stage will restore confidence of stakeholders in the company and also facilitate resolution of the contentious issues that Infosys is facing presently. We do hope that you will consider the above and do the needful," said the signatories of the letter.

The stock had crashed 10 per cent last Friday after the sudden exit of the company's first non-founder CEO Vishal Sikka and 5 per cent more on Monday despite a share buyback announcement on Saturday.