The short answer
What turned a small group of engineers into an international software-services company? Infosys’s beginning in 1981 is distinct from its 1993 Indian public offering and 1999 Nasdaq listing. Its development involved clients, delivery centres, communications, employees and changing leadership, as well as the entrepreneur most closely associated with its name, Narayana Murthy.
Chronology
A timeline of the turning points
Incorporation
The company begins with seven founding members and an initial base in Pune.
Headquarters move
Infosys relocates its headquarters to Bangalore, now Bengaluru.
An overseas office
The company opens an office in Boston as its international client business develops.
Indian public markets
An IPO in February precedes listing on Indian exchanges in June.
Nasdaq listing
American depositary shares list in the United States, years after founding.
Founder leadership changes
Nilekani, Gopalakrishnan and Shibulal succeed Murthy as CEO in turn; Vishal Sikka becomes the first external CEO in 2014.
Seven colleagues began an export-oriented enterprise
Infosys was established in 1981 by N. R. Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, S. Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh, N. S. Raghavan and Ashok Arora. Recognizing all seven prevents a familiar founder’s public profile from swallowing the rest of the team. Their company provided software services rather than manufacturing a single patented consumer device.
The early operation was based in Pune. The 1999 annual report gives 2 July 1981 as the incorporation date, while the company’s history identifies New York’s Data Basics Corporation as its first client. Accounts describe modest initial capital, usually ₹10,000 in Indian currency. Historical dollar equivalents vary, so the frequently repeated US$250 figure should be understood as a retrospective shorthand, not a precise conversion established here.
A Bangalore base and client relationships came before scale
The headquarters moved to Bangalore in 1983, and a Boston office followed in 1987. These were organizational steps connecting an Indian engineering base with overseas customers. A client relationship required understanding requirements, obtaining contracts and delivering usable systems. The later visibility of a large campus should not be projected onto the much smaller business of the early 1980s.
Murthy told independent reporter John Ribeiro that customer advances helped finance early operations. That recollection describes a practical working-capital mechanism: work had to be funded while a young company had limited resources. It does not mean that every project was financed identically. The company’s expansion depended on repeat business and delivery capacity as well as the founding team’s original investment.
Global delivery connected work performed in different places
The Global Delivery Model organized project work across customer locations and delivery centres, including those in India. On-site contact could help specify a problem, while distributed teams performed other development and maintenance tasks. Murthy was influential in articulating the model, and Infosys’s own 2015 report also credits Shibulal with an important role in its evolution.
Moving more work offshore required investment in computers, facilities and reliable communications. It also depended on coordinating people and maintaining service quality. Cost differences could provide an advantage, but distance introduced execution risks. In its filings, Infosys acknowledged that telecommunications failures, confidentiality problems and failure to complete contracts on time could harm the business. Distributed delivery was an operating arrangement with requirements and limits, not an automatic guarantee of success.
The 1993 and 1999 listings served a later stage
Infosys made its Indian initial public offering in February 1993 and listed on Indian exchanges in June. Its employee stock-option programme also dates to 1993 in the company’s chronology. Those events followed more than a decade of operations. Founding, raising public equity and giving employees stock-based participation answer different questions about the company’s development.
In March 1999 American depositary shares were listed on Nasdaq. Depositary shares represented interests in the underlying Indian shares; this was not the incorporation of a new American Infosys. Public-market access brought a wider investor audience and reporting obligations. It should not be confused with evidence that a historical investment return can be repeated, or that a listing itself removes operational risks.
Founder leadership became a question of succession
Murthy’s CEO tenure ended in 2002. Nilekani, Gopalakrishnan and Shibulal subsequently held the role. Murthy remained chairman in executive and non-executive capacities before leaving the board in 2011, then returned as executive chairman in 2013 while Shibulal remained CEO. A chairman’s return therefore did not make him chief executive again.
In 2014 Vishal Sikka became the first external CEO. Murthy left executive duties in June and the chairmanship in October. The following annual report records that he declined a further Chairman Emeritus role. These transitions show why the seven founders, subsequent management and the board should be distinguished. The company continued beyond the founders’ day-to-day operating roles, with governance and client delivery remaining collective responsibilities.
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One member of the seven-person founding team
1946–
N. R. Narayana Murthy
Infosys co-founder and former chief executiveN. R. Narayana Murthy is an Indian engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded Infosys with six colleagues in 1981. He served as chief executive until 2002 and later held chairmanship roles. His career also includes education, investment and public debate about work and economic development.Read biographyQuick answers
Common questions
- Who were the seven founders of Infosys?
- N. R. Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, S. Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh, N. S. Raghavan and Ashok Arora.
- Was Infosys founded in Pune or Bangalore?
- Its early base was Pune in 1981. Its headquarters moved to Bangalore in 1983. The 1999 report gives Mumbai as the place of incorporation, which should not be confused with the operating base.
- Did Nasdaq create the company in 1999?
- No. The Nasdaq milestone was a listing of American depositary shares. Infosys had been established in 1981 and had already gone public in India in 1993.
- Does global delivery mean employees work continuously for 24 hours?
- No. It describes distributing and coordinating work across locations and time zones. It does not, by itself, establish the working hours of each employee.
Primary and institutional sources
How this history was checked
Dated company reports establish incorporation, securities and leadership changes; official history supplies operational milestones. Independent IDG reporting supplies early-finance recollections and contemporary business limits. Selected report passages were read; no complete original client-contract or payroll audit is claimed. This article was reviewed on 23 October 2026.
- IIT KanpurSri Narayan Murthy: alumnus profile and early career
- IIM Ahmedabad ArchivesShri N R Narayana Murthy: education and 2002–2007 chairpersonship
- IIM Ahmedabad ArchivesNarayana Murthy: oral-history introduction, 1969–1971 employment
- InfosysN. R. Narayana Murthy: current official founder profile
- InfosysFounders: all seven founding members
- InfosysCompany history and defining milestones
- InfosysAnnual Report 1999: incorporation, Indian IPO and Nasdaq ADSs
- InfosysForm 20-F 2010: Murthy’s CEO, executive and non-executive roles
- InfosysLeadership succession, 30 April 2011: Chairman Emeritus appointment
- Infosys / PR NewswireBoard appoints Murthy Executive Chairman, 1 June 2013
- InfosysAnnual Report 2014–2015: departures, Emeritus decision and business risks
- InfosysInvestor conference call, 18 August 2017: the board’s account of Sikka’s departure
- Moneycontrol / N. R. Narayana MurthyMurthy’s complete response to the board, 18 August 2017
- Infosys / PR NewswireBoard changes and Nilekani’s appointment, 24 August 2017
- InfosysCorporate governance: ESG Report 2025–2026
- CIO / John Ribeiro, IDG News ServiceInfosys Turns 25, Faces New Set of Hurdles, 31 July 2006
- NDTVMurthy defends the 70-hour workweek at the CNBC summit, 15 November 2024
- Universitätsarchiv St.Gallen / Wikimedia Commons31st ISC Symposium, 2001: Murthy, HSGN 028/01586
- Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence