Infosys trains to stay ahead

Infosys Technologies grew almost 10 times in the last five years to become a billion dollar company by focusing on training and corporate governance, according to S Gopalakrishnan (Kris), chief operating officer, co-founder and member of the board.

Kris told Business Standard that training has always remained crucial to Infosys and "is a must in today's world as the processes being followed are constantly changing".

As for corporate governance, "We have seen that some of the best accounting practices we were already following are being introduced in the US only now. Rules in corporate governance must be viewed as beneficial to the companies. They help in bringing out the competitive advantage of the company," Kris added.

Currently, about 55 per cent of the Infosys shares are held by foreign investors. "This shows we can sustain ourselves in the long term. We are a truly global company which happens to be in India," he said.

A majority of Infosys board members (eight out of 15) are independent directors. Companies have to pay well to get the best independent directors. During the last fiscal, Infosys spent about Rs 1.5 crore on its independent directors.