By Ruma Dubey

Think of a company which, in today’s time, you could say, is one of the most transparent companies in India Inc; a company to whom to you could have given 100% marks for corporate governance? Without even waiting for a second, majority of the people, to whom this question was posed said, “Infosys”. Yes, Tata companies were named by some yet; Infosys was one name which required no effort to recollect.

The way in which this IT company has set the bar for conducting business is indeed commendable. Its presentation of financial numbers, the well planned retirement of Narayana Murthy, putting a professional management in place when rest of India Inc follows the dynasty rule; in many ways Infosys is a path breaker, a beacon of light when most others have murky shadows lurking in the corners. The story of Murthy is a source of inspiration to us Indians; probably our only Indian ‘Bill Gates’ in recent times.

Thus with so much reputation riding on its shoulders, it comes as a complete shocker to know that Infosys flouted US visa rules. What was earlier projected by Infosys as just a one-off is getting to be much uglier now. Today, Infosys has stated that the visa row case will now go to trial on 20^th August as the mediation process with John Palmer has failed.

A quick flashback. In Feb 2011, John Palmer, an ex- employee had  filed a complaint in the Alabama court, alleging that Infosys was misusing the B-1 visa by sending low-skilled workers to customer sites in the US to counter the cap on H1-B visas by US immigration authorities. Palmer has alleged that he was asked by Infosys to pen a welcome letter to some employees in Infosys Bangalore, which was the best way to get a B-1 visa. Palmer refused and he has said that the Infosys management accused him of not being a ‘team player’. Palmer alleged that Infosys was overcharging the customer by using the lower-income B-1 employees and charging the higher pay rate for specialized H-1B employee.  H1-B visa’s take time, more money and with limits on the number of visa’s than can be issued, it is said that many IT companies use the much cheaper, faster B-1 visa route. The only thing is that under B-1 visa, foreign employees cannot work in the United States. And Infosys was blatantly flouting the US immigration rules.

Infosys managed to push this under the carpet and projected the picture of a disgruntled employee who was lashing out against the company. But after that two more allegations of the same kind were levied. There was a case wherein an HR department employee of the company in US, sent out an email to another HR employee and Infosys' counsel in the US - Jefferey Friedel , the one overseeing the entire visa issue from a legal standpoint. In the email, the HR employee gave details of how Infosys had consistently misused the US visa norms, especially in the banking and capital markets division which is Infosys' largest revenue earner. Non-compliance with the Form I-9, the employee alleged, is a big problem in Infosys. Form I-9 is the US Citizenship and Immigration Services form that verifies an employee’s identity and establishes that the worker is eligible to accept employment in the US.

If it had been just one employee, as Infosys had stated, one could have indeed wished Palmer off as a disgruntled employee. But with Palmer sticking to his gun, shows his conviction in what he states is  big fraud. Truth gives one that coverage?

Those employed with IT companies, take this news with a lot of nonchalance. They say that majority or rather almost all IT companies do exactly what Infosys does. It is our Indian mentality to try and save a few dollars more and flouting norms, is in our DNA. Thus many feel that this news of Infosys is nothing new or alarming.

That might be the view of most employees in the sector but it does come as a shocker to know that Infosys, which built its reputation so painstakingly for the last 30 years, is now stooping down so low?

Corporate governance might be small fry in India. But in USA it is a BIG deal. And given the current sentiments which the American citizens have about outsourcing, this could blow into a big thing for Infosys.

When a company like Infosys gets caught in something like this, it somehow shakes the faith in the complete ethos of India Inc. As such we have very few companies to be truly proud about and when one amongst them also starts showing its feet of clay; it is indeed a sad state of affairs. One cannot help but wonder whether Infosys behaved the way it did because it is so Indian, because we have it in our DNA to always cheat and flout rules to save a few dollars?

It takes years to build a reputation but only a few seconds to ruin that work of years.