Infy promoters opt out of `18K-crbuyback offer

New Delhi: Infosys promoters and promoter group, including Nandan M Nilekani and Sudha Murty, have decided not to participate in the company’s Rs18,000 crore share buyback, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

The promoters collectively hold 13.05 per cent of the company’s equity as on the buyback announcement date. “The Promoter and Promoter Group of the Company have expressed their intention of not participating in the Buyback vide their letters dated September 14, 2025, September 16, 2025, September 17, 2025, September 18, 2025, and September 19, 2025. “Pursuant to the proposed Buyback and depending on the response to the Buyback, the voting rights of the Promoters and Promoter Group in the Company, which constitutes 13.05 per cent as on the date of the Public Announcement, may change,” Infosys said.

Infosys promoters include company co-founder N R Narayana Murthy’s wife Sudha N Murty, daughter Akshata Murty, and son Rohan Murty. It also includes company co-founder Nandan Nilekani, his wife Rohini Nilekani, and children Nihar and Janhavi Nilekani. Other co-founders and their families are also promoters of the company.

The Infosys board, in a meeting dated September 11, 2025, approved the company’s largest-ever share buyback worth Rs18,000 crore. Infosys will buy 10 crore fully paid-up equity shares of a face value of Rs5 each, representing up to 2.41 per cent of the total paid-up equity share capital, at Rs1,800 per share.

The buyback is being undertaken after taking into account the strategic and operational cash needs in the medium term and the need for returning surplus funds to the members in an efficient manner in line with Infosys’ capital allocation policy, the filing said. As per the stated Capital Allocation Policy, “Effective from financial year 2025, the Company expects to continue its policy of returning approximately 85 per cent of the free cash flow cumulatively over a 5-year period through a combination of semi-annual dividends and/or share buyback/ special dividends, subject to applicable laws and requisite approvals, if any”.

The company intends to steadily increase its annual dividend per share (excluding any special dividends), the filing said, adding that in line with the capital allocation policy, the buyback is anticipated to enhance shareholder value over the long term by reducing the equity base. Infosys had announced its first share buyback programme in 2017. The company at that time had purchased 11.3 crore shares, or up to 4.92 per cent of the paid-up equity share capital of the company, at Rs1,150 per equity share, amounting to around Rs13,000 crore. The second buyback of the company was worth Rs8,260 crore in 2019, while the third was worth Rs9,200 crore. The Bengaluru-headquartered company had, in 2022, announced a share buyback of Rs 9,300 crore via an open market route for a maximum price of Rs1,850 per equity share. The Infosys scrip settled at Rs1,472 apiece on the BSE on Tuesday, 0.72 per cent higher than its previous close.