Infosys AGM 2025: Nilekani flags global uncertainty; AI and energy shift central to firm's strategy
Infosys
chairman
Nandan Nilekani
warned that the convergence of global tariff conflicts, AI disruption, and the energy transition is creating a "perfect storm" for businesses, urging companies to prioritise innovation and supply chain diversification.
Speaking at Infosys' 44th Annual General Meeting, Nilekani said businesses now face the challenge of navigating fragmented global markets amid rising regional trade barriers.
'Clearly, the world is shifting from a single global market to fragmented blocks, forcing companies to make strategic choices and navigate between regions,' he told shareholders virtually, as cited by ET.
Nilekani highlighted that bilateral and regional trade pacts have become dominant, necessitating urgent derisking strategies.
He also said the accelerating energy transition, driven by innovations in solar, wind, hydrogen, batteries, and nuclear, has added 'another layer of uncertainty,' particularly with the increased role of electricity requiring massive investments in grid infrastructure.
Addressing the impact of AI, Nilekani stated that companies must embrace foundational changes to their digital architecture to stay competitive.
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'Legacy system modernisation and data architecture overhauls... are becoming increasingly unavoidable,' he said. He underscored the need for firms to develop both 'AI foundries for innovation and AI factories for scaling.'
Infosys, positioning itself as an AI-native company, has trained over 275,000 of its 320,000 employees in AI. CEO Salil Parekh, whose reappointment until March 2027 was approved by shareholders, revealed that Infosys is currently working on 400 generative AI projects.
'Using AI technologies, we have generated 10 million lines of code… and built 200 agents internally,' he said, as per ET.
Infosys is also involved in 30 AI agent-based client engagements and is actively expanding into tier-2 and 3 cities like Gandhinagar, Hubli, Coimbatore, Vizag, and Guwahati to tap regional talent pools.
Responding to shareholder concerns, Nilekani clarified that the new wave of Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in India is driven not by cost benefits but by innovation needs.
'GCC is no longer our competitor. They're critical clients for us on AI,' he said, affirming Infosys' strategic alignment with global R&D efforts.
On the financial front, Nilekani assured that Infosys remains committed to returning 85% of its free cash flow to shareholders during FY25–29, addressing repeated shareholder queries on buybacks and bonuses.
'Infosys offers the stability that organisations need to survive and thrive,' Nilekani concluded, reiterating that the company remains deeply relevant to clients amid sweeping industry transformations.
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