Vishal Sikka is one of the highest paid executives in India - his last known salary a whopping Rs 48 crore. But the 49-year-old Infosys chief said today he carries a wallet without cash. It was big thumbs up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation move, one that Mr Sikka said has generated "a lot of excitement" and will lead to "much faster much more accelerated adoption of digital payments."
"I know my name is Vishal Sikka but I am 'sikka (coin)-free'. I think I do not even know the last time I exchanged any money. I carry a wallet which has no money in it," Mr Sikka told NDTV, soon after his company announced its third quarter results.
"The whole demonetisation exercise I think it is an extremely bold move by the Prime Minister, something which reflects extraordinary commitment towards eliminating corruption and bringing in innovations," Mr Sikka said.
The notes ban and events after that, Mr Sikka said, have also demonstrated the resilience of Indians. "I am an optimist and I see good in all of these things. I had several meetings with some of our key huge clients and they are very focused on bringing massive scale. Reliance Jio is talking of 400 million accounts, billions of rupees passing through their payment networks every day," he said.
Infosys' Finacle platform powers a lot of financial infrastructure in India. Mr Sikka said close to 70 per cent of banking in India is done through Finacle. "We are really excited about bringing in those digital capabilities on top of Finacle for our clients. As India digitizes it is a good thing for everybody."
Bengaluru-based Infosys, India's second biggest software services company, posted a better-than-expected net profit of Rs 3,708 crore for the December quarter but it narrowed its full-year revenue guidance. Infosys also hit the $10 billion revenue mark for the calendar year 2016 (January to December), which Mr Sikka described as a huge "emotional" milestone.
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