Departing Infosys boss Murthy betrays a tinge of regret

Infosys Technologies chairman and 'chief mentor' N R Narayana Murthy, slated to retire in August, has written an unusually lengthy valedictory letter to employees in the company's annual report released on Tuesday, where among other things he says accusations of the company violating business ethics had given him sleepless nights.

"Being accused of violating our own high standard of business ethics recently made me lose several nights of sleep," Murthy said.

Murthy, who founded the company in 1981 with Rs10,000 borrowed from his wife, inducted others he knew as co-founders, but a couple left subsequently.

"Bidding goodbye to the brightest of my co-founder colleagues early in the journey was disheartening ... deliberating all alone on the resignation offer of a co-founder is not something I would wish upon even my enemy," his letter says.

One of the company's founders, N S Raghavan, quit in 2000. Another, K Dinesh, resigned along with T Mohandas Pai,head of human resources, after being passed over for the top job.

Co-founder S D Shibulal was chosen last month as the new chief executive and managing director. S 'Kris' Gopalakrishnan, the current chief executive, will step aside as executive co-chairman.