Infosys Limited
Information technology servicesFounded 1981- Updated June 2026
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Last reviewed: June 2026
CorpDigest
Infosys Limited
Company History
Founded 1981 in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Last reviewed: 2026-06-03 · By Swet Parvadiya
Infosys Limited was founded on July 2, 1981, in Pune, Maharashtra, India, by N. R. Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, S. Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh, N. S. Raghavan, and Ashok Arora — seven engineers from Patni Computer Systems who believed they could build a industry-leading software services company from India at a time when the country had neither the infrastructure nor the reputation to support such an ambition. Headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, the company is led by CEO and Managing Director Salil Parekh (since January 2018) and Non-Executive Chairman Nandan Nilekani (since August 2017). Infosys operates in information technology services, consulting, business process management, and software products, serving clients across financial services, retail and consumer goods, manufacturing, energy and utilities, healthcare and life sciences, telecommunications, media, and the public sector in over 56 countries. The revenue model combines multiple contract types: time-and-materials contracts (where clients pay for engineer hours deployed), fixed-price projects (where Infosys commits to delivering specific outcomes for a predetermined fee), managed services agreements (multi-year contracts for ongoing operations), platform licensing and subscriptions (Finacle, AssistEdge), and outcome-based pricing (where fees are tied to business results achieved). This diversified contract mix provides both revenue predictability (from managed services and licensing) and growth flexibility (from new project wins and consulting engagements). In FY2026 (fiscal year ending March 31, 2026), Infosys reported $20.158 billion in revenue — crossing the $20 billion mark for the first time in the company's history. This represented 4.6% year-over-year growth (3.1% in constant currency). Operating profit was $4.085 billion with a 20.3% operating margin. Net income (after non-controlling interests) was $3.313 billion, up 4.9% year-over-year. The company signed $14.9 billion in large deals during the year, a 24% increase over FY2025, demonstrating strong enterprise demand for managed services and transformation programs. Market capitalization stands at approximately $49 billion on the NYSE (ticker: INFY). The company also trades on the BSE and NSE in India (ticker: INFY). Infosys employs approximately 328,594 people globally as of March 2026, with the majority based in India across major campuses in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh, and Mangaluru. The company also operates delivery centers in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, China, Japan, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Canada, and several other countries. The Infosys Global Education Centre in Mysuru, spread over 337 acres, is one of the largest corporate training facilities in the world with capacity to train 15,000 employees simultaneously. Competitive position: Infosys benefits from a four-decade offshore delivery system, governance credibility established through early NASDAQ listing and transparent reporting, deep client relationships built over years of operational integration, specialized platform assets (Finacle in 100+ banks, AssistEdge in enterprise automation, Cobalt for cloud, Topaz for AI), and the sheer cost of replacing embedded teams in mission-critical enterprise systems. Strategic direction: Under Salil Parekh, Infosys is focused on AI-first services through Topaz, cloud modernization through Cobalt, large deal pursuit and consolidation, targeted acquisitions for specialized capabilities, European geographic expansion, and platform-led growth that creates switching costs beyond project-based labor.
Narayana Murthy is the founder most closely identified with Infosys' governance culture and institutional character. He co-founded the company in 1981 with six colleagues, borrowing the initial ₹10,000 from his wife, Sudha Murty, who was then a senior engineer at TELCO (now Tata Motors). Murthy served as CEO from 1981 to 2002 and as chairman from 2002 to 2011. Under his leadership, Infosys completed its 1993 Indian IPO, became the first Indian company to list on NASDAQ in 1999, pioneered the Global Delivery Model that defined Indian IT services, and introduced employee stock options that created some of India's first salaried millionaires. His insistence on transparent reporting, meritocratic management, and professional governance — unusual for Indian companies in the 1980s and 1990s — became Infosys' most powerful sales tool: foreign clients trusted the company because it behaved like an auditable institution. Murthy also established cultural norms that persisted for decades: the practice of founders traveling economy class, the refusal to pay bribes even when it meant losing contracts, the commitment to returning phone calls within 24 hours, and the belief that employee wealth creation through stock options was more sustainable than founder enrichment. He briefly returned as executive chairman in 2013-2014 during a leadership transition when the board struggled to find a successor after the founder generation stepped back. His public criticism of the Panaya acquisition in 2017 — expressed through letters to the board and media statements questioning the deal's valuation and governance — triggered the most serious crisis in Infosys' history, leading to CEO Vishal Sikka's resignation and ultimately Nandan Nilekani's return as chairman. The episode was controversial: some viewed Murthy as a principled guardian of governance standards, while others saw his intervention as overreach by a retired founder who no longer had operational responsibility. Regardless of interpretation, the crisis demonstrated the enduring influence of founder culture at Infosys. Murthy remains one of India's most respected business figures, frequently cited as a symbol of ethical entrepreneurship and compassionate capitalism. He has received numerous honors including the Padma Vibhushan (India's second-highest civilian award), the Legion of Honor (France), and the CBE (United Kingdom). His wife, Sudha Murty, is a celebrated author and philanthropist who chairs the Infosys Foundation.
Nandan Nilekani served as Infosys CEO from 2002 to 2007, a period when the company expanded aggressively into global markets and deepened its position with Fortune 500 clients. He was instrumental in building the company's brand, client relationships, and strategic positioning. After leaving Infosys, Nilekani was appointed chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in 2009, where he led the creation of Aadhaar — the world's largest biometric identity system, covering over 1.3 billion people. He returned to Infosys as non-executive chairman in August 2017 during the company's most serious governance crisis, following the Panaya controversy and Vishal Sikka's resignation. His return stabilized the board, restored investor confidence, and led to the appointment of Salil Parekh as CEO. Nilekani continues to serve as chairman, providing strategic oversight while Parekh handles operational execution. His lasting contribution to Infosys is the idea that technology institutions must combine commercial scale with public trust.
S. Gopalakrishnan co-founded Infosys in 1981 and served as CEO from 2007 to 2011, navigating the company through the global financial crisis while maintaining profitability and client trust. His tenure emphasized technology investment, global delivery expansion, and operational resilience. Before becoming CEO, he served as COO and was responsible for building much of Infosys' technology infrastructure and delivery capability. After stepping down as CEO, he served as executive vice chairman until 2014. Kris later became president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and has been active in promoting research, innovation, and entrepreneurship in India. His lasting influence on Infosys is the belief that process discipline and engineering depth must advance together — delivery scale without technical renewal eventually becomes commodity work.
S. D. Shibulal co-founded Infosys in 1981 and served as CEO from 2011 to 2014. His tenure came during a transitional period when traditional outsourcing growth was slowing and the market was beginning to shift toward digital transformation, cloud, and automation. Shibulal prioritized operational stability, service quality, and the global delivery model he had helped build over three decades. While critics argued that Infosys was too slow to embrace digital under his leadership, the company maintained profitability and client trust during a period of industry uncertainty. After stepping down, subsequent leaders accelerated the digital and AI shift. His lasting contribution is the delivery architecture — the disciplined division of onsite and offshore work, supported by process controls, documentation standards, and quality metrics — that allowed Infosys to scale from a small exporter to a global enterprise services company without losing client trust.
K. Dinesh co-founded Infosys in 1981 and spent his career building the company's internal operating systems — quality processes, human resources practices, training programs, and organizational development. He helped establish the CMM Level 5 certification processes that became a competitive differentiator in the 1990s, when enterprise clients used maturity models to evaluate offshore vendors. Dinesh also contributed to Infosys' education and research initiatives, including the company's relationship with academic institutions. He retired from active management but remained associated with the broader Infosys founder legacy of professionalism and institution-building. His lasting contribution is not a single product or deal but the operating backbone that allowed Infosys to grow from seven people to over 300,000 without losing process discipline.
N. S. Raghavan co-founded Infosys and served as a stabilizing administrative force during the company's fragile early years. He managed finance, human resources, and internal operations at a time when the company had limited resources and no external credibility. His role mattered because the founders were trying to build a professional institution, not a loose collection of engineers chasing overseas contracts. Raghavan helped create the organizational order that allowed Infosys to handle its first major clients, manage its first employees beyond the founding team, and navigate India's complex regulatory environment. He stepped back from active management earlier than other founders but his influence remained in the governance habits and administrative systems that supported later growth. He later became an active angel investor and mentor in India's startup ecosystem.
Ashok Arora co-founded Infosys in 1981 and contributed to the company's earliest technical work and client delivery. Unlike the other six founders, Arora left the company relatively early and sold his stake before Infosys became a public-market success. His exit is one of the most frequently cited missed-wealth stories in Indian business history — the stake he sold for a modest sum would have been worth billions at Infosys' peak valuation. That outcome does not diminish his contribution to the founding moment, but it illustrates how difficult it is to value a young services company before its market has fully formed. Arora's role belongs to the startup phase of Infosys history rather than its scaling era.
Infosys acquired Simplus, a US-based Salesforce consulting and implementation firm, for approximately $250 million in March 2020. The deal was designed to strengthen Infosys' Salesforce ecosystem capabilities — particularly in quote-to-cash transformation, CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote), and cloud CRM implementation — while adding North American enterprise client relationships.
Infosys acquired Panaya, an Israel-based cloud company specializing in enterprise software testing and change impact analysis, for $200 million in February 2015. The deal was intended to add automation technology for SAP and Oracle modernization programs, reducing the manual testing effort in large package implementations.
Infosys acquired Fluido, a Nordic Salesforce consulting firm, for up to €65 million (approximately $76 million) in October 2018. The deal expanded Infosys' Salesforce practice into Northern Europe, adding local delivery presence in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Slovakia.
Infosys acquired WongDoody, a US-based creative and digital experience agency, for approximately $75 million in 2018. The deal added creative design, brand strategy, consumer insights, and digital experience capabilities to Infosys' technology services portfolio.
Infosys acquired GuideVision, a European ServiceNow Elite Partner, in 2020 to strengthen its ServiceNow consulting, implementation, and managed services capabilities across Central and Eastern Europe.
Infosys acquired Kaleidoscope Innovation, a US-based product design and engineering firm, for approximately $42 million in 2020. The deal added upstream product design, medical device engineering, human factors research, and smart-product development capabilities.
Infosys acquired BASE life science, a European life sciences consulting firm, in 2022 to deepen its capabilities in pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device consulting — covering regulatory affairs, quality management, clinical operations, and commercial transformation.
Infosys acquired oddity, a German digital marketing and experience design agency, in 2022 to expand creative, commerce, and brand capabilities in Germany, broader Europe, and Northeast Asia.
Infosys acquired InSemi Technology Services, a Bengaluru-based semiconductor design and embedded services provider, for ₹280 crore (approximately $33.7 million including earn-outs) in 2024. The deal strengthened Infosys' Engineering R&D capabilities in chip design, VLSI, embedded systems, and hardware-software co-design.
Infosys announced the acquisition of in-tech, a leading German engineering R&D services provider, for €450 million (approximately $485 million) in April 2024. In-tech specializes in software-defined vehicles, e-mobility, connected and autonomous driving, ADAS, rail systems, and smart industry solutions for German automotive OEMs.
Infosys acquired Skava, a US-based mobile commerce platform company, for approximately $120 million in 2015. The deal was intended to strengthen digital commerce, mobile-first shopping experiences, and omnichannel retail technology capabilities.