Infy wants place in NASDAQ-100, raise brand equity - Murthy

Infosys Chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy today said the sponsored secondary ADR issue is part of the company's ambition to get into the NASDAQ-100 index, raise brand equity in the US and win more customers there.

Responding to questions at an Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM) here, he said: "We want to be the first Indian registered company to get into the NASDAQ index. That particular journey requires that we enhance liquidity in the US. This is part of reaching that goal".

In the lively EGM, where a section of shareholders expressed concern over the ADR issue and wondered whether such exercises are a precurssor to the Bangalore-based company being taken over by 'foreigners', Murthy asserted that the aim is to make Infosys bigger.

The special resolution on the ADR issue (not exceeding 30 million shares) was passed with requisite majority; it was not unanimous.

Currently, Foreign Institutional Investors hold 36 per cent stock of Infosys and ADR holders around 14 per cent. As much as 13.95 per cent of the total company stocks are listed and traded outside India.

If the issue -- which is the company's third after the ones in 2003 and 2005 -- is fully subscribed, the figure of 13.95 per cent would go up to 19.35 per cent, Infosys Chief Financial Officer V Balakrishnan said. PTI

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