Infosys, which is today a multinational corporation which provides IT services to many companies in over 50 countries and making an annual revenue of about 9.75 billion $ was founded in 1981 when Naranyan Murthy joined Infosys with an initial capital of US$ 250 along with 6 other founders including Nandan Neilkani, K. Dinesh, Ashok Arora, S.D. Shibulal, Kris Gopalakrishnan, N. S. Raghavan.
The following are some little known things about Infosys that most of us probably don’t know:
- Narayan Murthy, the protagonist was considered as the best ever software engineer as long as computers continue to be based on Von Neumann architecture; by his founding member colleagues.
- Infosys was not the first company Narayan worked in; even he had to face failure in the form of “Softronics – an IT software consulting firm” which he founded in 1976 after graduating from IIMA. After realising that this venture was not going to be successful, he joined Patni Computer Systems, Pune. Working on projects for Patni Computers he switched to Infosys in the year 1981 as the 4th Founding member of the company.
- Infosys Signs up its first client, Data Basics Corporation, in New York even though they did not have a SINGLE computer in their office till 1983. Murthy employed a former Patni Employee Sharad Hegde to the assistance of his company.
- To build the biggest Information Technology Company of India was not an easy task. The first Crisis that Infosys faced was when the Joint Venture with KSA (an US-based Company) came to an end in 1989. This was the time when Ashok Arora, one of the founding members parted ways with Infosys; but the rest of them stayed together. To be noted that Ashok is the 7th founding member of Infosys.
- To keep the company running the company needed funds, which came in through the IPO i.e. selling shares to the public. But till the early 90s the issue-pricing was decided by Controller of Capital Issues. It fixed Infosys’s share premium of Re.1 at issue price of Rs.11 which limited the funds that the company could acquire by selling its share.
- But this was not the case with Infosys. Then the finance minister Manmohan Singh abolished CCI and Infosys went ahead with the issue in February 1993 at a premium of Rs 85 and issue price of Rs 95.
- But the circumstances were not good all along; Infosys IPO was on the verge of devolution. The issue was subscribed 1.06 times. But it almost didn’t go through. Eventually Enam Financial Consultants, the lead manager, had to push it through.
Also read “Pros & Cons Of Starting Career With Infosys” and “Which Is The Best Infosys DC In India“.
Choosing The Right Path
- By 1994, almost one-third of Infosys’s revenue was accounted by GE. Fed up with GE’s constant bargaining, Narayan Murthy approached other major Indian software firms working for GE and suggested to collectively turn down the lower rates. However, that did not happen and Infosys was the only company to give up GE works.
- During the 90’s, the company projected that 30-40 percent of its revenue come from products because of its revised strategy of product-play.
- Later Narayana hired Mohandas Pai, an argumentative accountant. Instead of getting irritated, Narayan got impressed by this young Indian asking too many questions, who went on to help the company list on NASDAQ.
- Kris Gopalakrishnan was senior to Nilkani and he believed that Nilkani was always the big picture man and could be given a larger role to play in the operations of the company.
Also read “10 Reasons To Join Infosys” and “Vishal Sikka’s Words To Those Exiting Infoscions“.
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