We're well positioned to tide over Covid-19 pandemic, says Infosys chairman Nilekani

Bengaluru: Allaying fears of investors, Bengaluru-based tech giant Infosys on Saturday said the investments made over the last few years have positioned the company well.

Speaking at company’s annual general meeting, Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani said, “Over the last few years, we have made huge investments in making Infosys stronger and more resilient, while bringing agility and speed in everything we do.”

“The investments have positioned us very well and this is demonstrated in the way we are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. While noting that the extraordinary and unprecedented pandemic impacted every country, business and individual, he exuded confidence that the company would overcome the global crisis by combining the scale, brand and relationships of a large company with the speedy responsiveness and agility of a start-up.

“Our robust balance-sheet, steady growth momentum, digital systems for our people, and our executive team, unified in their focus on strategy execution, are advantages that are clearly working for us,” he said.

He said the Board of Directors has recommended a final dividend of Rs 9.5 per share for fiscal 2020 while the overall revenue grew 9.8 per cent in constant currency terms.

He said the total dividend payout for 2019 was Rs 8,120 crore coupled with an interim dividend of Rs 8 per share paid in October 2019. The company’s earnings per share grew by 8.3 per cent in US dollar terms in 2019.

During fiscal 2020, the overall revenue grew 9.8 per cent in constant currency terms totalling USD 12.8 billion. With operational rigour and steady focus on expense management, the margins stood at 21.3 per cent,” Nilekani said.