Bengaluru, June 23: Global software major Infosys initiated the process to sell its Panaya subsidiary, a top company official said on Saturday.

"We have initiated the process of discussion to sell Panaya as discussed by the board in April," CEO Salil Parekh told shareholders at the company's 37th Annual General Meeting (AGM) here.

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) M.D. Ranganath told the stakeholders that the company was following due diligence on acquisitions ahead.

"We are monitoring the acquisitions we have done and are following due diligence on acquisitions ahead," he said.

The acquisition of the US-based Panaya for $200 million in February 2015 rocked the company in 2017 after its co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy red-flagged lack of transparency in the deal and accused the previous board of compromising on governance issues during its negotiations.

The automation technology firm was bought to offer large-scale enterprise software management as a service to the company's global clients.

The controversial deal came to light after an anonymous whistleblower alleged that the company's executives had personal interests in buying it, also resulted in the exit of its first non-promoter Chief Executive Visha Sikka in August 2017.

The company, in April, announced its decision to sell Panaya by March 2019.

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New Delhi: A significant political controversy has erupted following the Modi government's decision to rename the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a move that has drawn sharp criticism from opposition parties. The row was further fueled by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut, who, while defending the name change, erroneously claimed that Mahatma Gandhi had made the devotional song "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram" India’s national anthem.

The central government has rebranded the flagship rural employment scheme from MGNREGA to the "Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Employment and Livelihood Mission," abbreviated as VB-G RAM G. The removal of Mahatma Gandhi's name from the scheme has been termed an insult to the Father of the Nation by the Congress and other opposition parties.

When questioned by the media outside Parliament regarding the opposition's allegations, Mandi MP Kangana Ranaut defended the government's decision by invoking Mahatma Gandhi's devotion to Lord Ram.

"How is naming it 'Ram Ji' an insult to Gandhi ji?" Ranaut asked. "Mahatma Gandhi made 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram' the national anthem to organize the entire country. Therefore, this is an insult to Mahatma Gandhi? The government is fulfilling his dream by giving it the name of Ram."


Ranaut's claim regarding the national anthem was immediately seized upon by the opposition. Congress leader Supriya Shrinate shared the video of Ranaut’s statement on social media, tweeting sarcastically, "Come on brother, today we learned a new national anthem! The BJP is full of such gems."

Social media users also trolled the MP for the factual error. One user quipped, "Kangana ji forgot to mention that Bapu made this the national anthem after the country got independence in 2014," while another commented that the party finds people who "don't use their brains while forwarding WhatsApp messages."

Beyond the social media mockery, senior Congress leaders criticised the renaming on ideological grounds. Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot took to X (formerly Twitter) to condemn the move.

"The biggest irony is that Mahatma Gandhi was a lifelong devotee of Lord Ram and said 'Hey Ram' in his last moments," Gehlot wrote. "Today, the central government is making a despicable attempt to sideline Gandhi ji under the guise of the same 'Ram' name (VB-G RAM G), which is highly condemnable."