Infosys reverberates at TCS annual meeting

Shareholder after shareholder sung paeans to Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) gesture of bonus and solid dividend payouts despite the current slowdown.

While that may not be disliked by TCS chairman Ratan Tata and chief executive officer S Ramadorai, there was palpable discomfiture when the company was repeatedly compared with immediate rival Infosys Technologies.

At the 14th annual general meeting of TCS, shareholders kept asking the board of directors to adopt the Bangalore firm’s pioneering ways.

Drawing a parallel, Shailesh Parikh, a TCS investor, said, “Compared with Infosys, TCS’ free float of shares is much less. This is why the market capitalisation of the firm is less than Infosys’. Besides, with less free-float speculative movement in price is reduced.”

Parikh suggested ways to reduce employee cost without layoffs. “Our employee cost is about Rs 7,500 crore. I have also heard that the management has decided to increase working hours of staff. But we know that work productivity in the first half of the day is many times higher than the second. So, any addition to working hours is not going to pay off. But with effective stress management, we can reduce employee cost by 10-20%.”

Tata gave him a patient hearing and said he would ask TCS chief financial officer S Mahalingam to meet him and hear his views.
“Your points certainly deserve a thought,” Tata said.

As a few shareholders urged the TCS chairman to dole out dividends and bonuses frequently, Tata said, “I get into dilemma. When I don’t pay dividends I am in trouble. When I do, even then I am in trouble as my cash goes out and stock goes down.”

Even there, M Agnihotri, another shareholder, brought in Infosys: “Infosys is much younger than our firm. But our earnings (earning per share) is Rs 47, while Infosys’ is about Rs 100. Is there any problem with the way our finances are done? I would like to know are we overspending? Ours is a giant company, we have the name of Tata, and we have Ramadorai’s leadership. So, where are we going wrong?”.

M I Parikh, yet another shareholder, asked the board to deploy video conferencing facility while conducting the AGM so that other shareholders in different locations can also participate, “exactly the way Infosys conducts its AGM through video conferencing”.
There was no escape.