Three decades of our sustainability journey: The milestones
Sustainability is built into the foundation of Infosys. Over the years, we have not only built future-proofed businesses for our clients, but also for our investors and employees. At the same time, we have worked towards fulfilling our responsibility towards the planet and our immediate communities. From the global delivery model to stock options for employees, from the energy-saving radiant cooling technology to investments in renewable energy, there have been quite a few milestones along the way that have vindicated our vision and endeavors.
a platform that brings machine learning together with the deep knowledge of an organization, to drive automation and innovation.
42% of the fresh water needs for our new buildings across campuses are met with rainwater harvesting. Installation of 145 deep recharge wells and 25 wells helps us generate a potential to harness 7.4 million liters of water a day.
With the installation of a 6.6MW PV solar farm, our Pocharam campus in Hyderabad becomes 100% solar-powered and is no longer dependent on grid power.
As part of our carbon offset project, a biomass cookstove plant was launched in Koppal in Karnataka, aimed at distributing 43,000 high-efficiency cookstoves to 21,500 families.
Infosys launches carbon offset projects worth Rs. 63 crore, a step towards achieving its stated carbon neutrality goal.
Infosys Foundation USA launches the Infy Maker Awards program to further its commitment to the spirit of making in everyday learning, and to celebrate creative excellence in makers of all ages across the US.
Infosys becomes the first Indian company to join RE 100, a global platform for major companies committed to 100% renewable power.
Infosys announces the US $250 million 'Innovate in India Fund' to support Indian start-ups.
Infosys becomes the first IT company in the world to publish its sustainability report following the Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) G4 comprehensive guidelines.
The first batch of biogas plants (1.25TPD) are commissioned for our Mangalore and Bubhaneshwar campuses, taking us one step further to our goal of becoming a zero-waste company. We are also able to achieve a 94% reduction of non-recyclable single-use items across our campuses.
The total built-up area of green certified buildings stands at 3.8 million sq.ft., with 14 LEED and 4 GRIHA certified buildings.
EdgeVerve Systems Limited, a new subsidiary, is created to develop and sell Infosys's products, platforms and solutions. Finacle is merged into EdgeVerve Systems Limited in 2015 to consolidate the product offerings of the company.
Vishal Sikka is appointed CEO and MD of the company, becoming the first non-founder to lead the company. He takes over from S. D. Shibulal.
Infosys wins the Golden Award for Sustainable Buildings 2014 at the International Ashden Awards held at the Royal Geographical Society in London.
The state-of-the-art Command Center is launched at our Bangalore campus, heralding an industry revolution in large-scale operations management.
The Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EEB) 2.0 guide is launched in partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). By using its campuses as EEB live labs, Infosys and partner organizations aim to find ways of reducing the corporate sector's climate impact and energy costs.
Infosys wins the prestigious Ian Kiernan award for corporate social responsibility 2013 for its inclusive and meaningful CSR actions in Australia. The award is given by the Australian Human Resources Institute.
Infosys begins trading on NYSE Euronext London and Paris markets, to strengthen its presence in the European markets.
By implementing one of the world's largest retrofit programs across our Indian campuses, Infosys achieves a 10.1 MW reduction in connected load. Air-conditioning retrofits alone reduce the connected load by 4.8 MW. The first ever building with radiant panels in India is inaugurated at our Bangalore campus. The new energy-saving technology is developed in-house, and in 2016, a patent is filed for it.
The total number of trees on our campuses stands at 288,065 � almost double the number we had in 2009.
Infosys is named among the World's Most Innovative Companies by Forbes magazine.
Infosys is identified as one of the top 25 performers in the 'Caring for Climate' initiative by the UN Global Compact and the UN Environment Program. As part of the top 25 performers group, Infosys achieved the greatest absolute emissions reductions percentage over the 2009 to 2010 reporting period.
In a ranking published by Newsweek, Infosys emerges as the world's 8th greenest company.
Infosys is one of the first Indian companies to publish the Business Responsibility Report.
With the addition of our new buildings in Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram and Mysore, over 1 million sq.ft. of Infosys's office space is green.
Infosys acquires the Zurich-headquartered Lodestone Holding AG as a subsidiary. The acquisition adds more than 750 experienced consultants and 200 clients in industries such as manufacturing, automotive and life sciences and strengthens the management consulting capabilities of Infosys globally and expands its presence in Europe.
3 microwind turbines of 1.8kW each are installed as part of a pilot project in our Bangalore campus.
India's first radiant cooled commercial building was inaugurated at our Pocharam campus in Hyderabad.
Solar water heaters installed in our Mysore campus. By 2016, the heaters have gained a capacity of 600,000 liters a day. Using these heaters, we are able to save 25,351 units of energy on a bright sunny day.
Infosys Foundation pitches in to help the victims of the floods in North Karnataka. A total of 21,000 houses are constructed in just nine months for the affected families with the help of the Foundation's grant.
The second Global Education Center (GEC2), with the capacity to train 14,000 employees at one time, is inaugurated in Mysore. With a built-up area of 1,002,095 sq.ft., GEC2 is the largest corporate education center in the world.
The company and some members of its board come together to set up the Infosys Science Foundation, with a mission of spreading the culture of science and research in India. The Foundation institutes the Infosys Prize to reward breakthrough research in five categories � Engineering and Computer Science, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences and Social Sciences. Humanities is added as the sixth category in 2013.
Infosys becomes the first Indian company on the NASDAQ 100 index.
Net profits cross US $1 billion. To commemorate the milestone, the company announces the largest dividend payout in Indian corporate history, amounting to Rs. 1,902 crore, and 665% over the par value of each share.
To reinforce its commitment to resource conservation, Infosys adopts technology-based water management, resulting in freshwater savings of about 180 million liters across campuses.
A pilot project for treating waste water using the membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology for a 2.5 MLD plant is rolled out in our Mysore campus.
Infosys completes 25 years of operation. The employee count crosses 50,000.
Infosys becomes the first company to remotely ring the NASDAQ Opening Bell from India. The entire event is broadcast live from Infosys' Mysore campus to NASDAQ's MarketSite tower at Times Square in New York, signaling of an increasingly flat and globalized world.
Infosys's first Global Education Centre (GEC), with 58 training rooms, 183 faculty rooms, a cyber cafe, a state-of-the-art library, and a capacity to train 4,500 employees at any given point of time, comes up in the Mysore campus. The GEC is inaugurated by the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh. Fortune magazine calls the GEC the "Taj Mahal of Training Centers".
The company's revenues reach US $2 billion. While it took 23 years to touch the first billion, it took a mere 23 months for the second.
Infosys records the largest international equity offering from India � of US $1 billion.
Infosys's revenues touch the one billion dollar mark.
Tapping opportunities and leveraging local talent in one of the world's fastest growing economies, Infosys forms Infosys Technologies (Shanghai) Co. Limited � a wholly-owned subsidiary in China � with an initial capital of US $5 million. Within a few years, it expands to a full-fledged development center, which serves as an alternate delivery hub for Infosys in the Asia-Pacific region.
Infosys launches Campus Connect, an industry-academia partnership program to empower engineering colleges to produce 'industry-ready' talent.
After a devastating tsunami strikes coastal Tamil Nadu in December, Infosys Foundation volunteers pool resources swiftly to provide relief to the victims. Besides offering financial aid, the team puts together a unique survival kit that includes essential supplies and medicines for the affected families.
Infosys is the only Indian organization to make it to the first annual list of "Top Brands with a Conscience", chosen by the Medinge Group based on principles of humanity and ethics, rather than financial worth.
Infosys sponsors a secondary American Depositary Shares (ADS) offering.
Infosys enters the Business Process Management (BPM) space with its subsidiary, Progeon, focusing on end-to-end outsourcing that is transformational and helps customers change their business in four tangible ways to do it cheaper, better, differently, and eliminate work. Progeon would later be rechristened Infosys BPO.
With a view to grooming leaders of the future, the company sets up the Infosys Leadership Institute (ILI).
Notebook Drive, a volunteering program to distribute stationery kits to underprivileged schoolchildren, is launched. It would go on to become our longest-running volunteering project.
Bancs 2000, Infosys's banking product, is relaunched under a new brand identity, Finacle. Finacle is the world's first web-based core baking system, and also the first to offer round-the-clock operations.
In a step to encourage the spirit of social volunteering among employees, the management sets up volunteering clubs across all development centers.
The company touches the US $100 million mark in revenue.
Infosys becomes the first Indian company to be listed on NASDAQ. US $70.38 million is raised through the issue of 2.07 million ADSs, under the American Depositary Shares (ADS) program.
Infosys becomes the 21st company in the world to achieve a CMM Level 5 certification that attested to our high levels of process maturity.
Towards building brand Infosys and attracting bright international talent, Infosys launched InStep, its flagship internship program. InStep would become one of India's largest institutionalized global internship programs.
Infosys Foundation is set up to carry out the corporate social responsibility of the company. Under the leadership of Sudha Murty, the Foundation identifies Education, Healthcare, Rural Development, Art and Culture, and Destitute Care as its primary focus areas for selecting community welfare projects.
The first campus of Infosys is opened in Electronics City, Bangalore, with just two buildings in a five-acre facility. This was India's biggest single-location software center, and had the country's largest computer network. It would go on to expand to an 80-acre campus housing over 25,000 employees in 50 buildings. Over the years, the campus would host world leaders like Bill Clinton, David Cameron, and Lee Kuan Yew, and business icons such as Bills Gates and Michael Dell. Each high-profile visit would be marked with the plantation of a sapling, underlining our commitment to the green cause. The company would later build campuses in Pune, Chennai, Mysore, Mangalore, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh and Jaipur.
The company goes public. An initial public offer of Rs. 95 per share is made in February and the company is listed on stock exchanges in India in June. Trading opens at Rs. 145 per share, compared to the IPO price of Rs. 95 per share. Infosys raises approximately US $4.4 million in gross aggregate proceeds through this offer, and another US $7.7 million through a private placement of shares in 1994.
The company earns the ISO 9000 certification, the first major recognition of our process maturity.
Infosys becomes the first Indian company to issue stock options to its employees. 19,76,100 equity shares of Rs. 10 each, representing 27% of the company are distributed among employees. The move would go on to spark a trend in the Indian IT industry.
The Global Delivery Model (GDM), pioneered by Infosys to bridge the time difference between its US customers and its India-based software developers, started being put into operation. Between 1987 and 1990, over 100 employees worked onsite and offshore, as the GDM evolved. Software was sent abroad by courier, and source code was often faxed.
Infosys's first product for the banking sector is rolled out for the Sirsi Urban Cooperative Bank. The product was then rolled out to several banks successfully and went on to become one of the strongest contenders offering core banking solutions across the country.
The company moves its corporate headquarters to Bangalore. The southern city was chosen over Mumbai as it was less crowded and had a more temperate climate. The choice was further vindicated when a time-sharing deal was struck with the Bangalore-based MICO over the Data General 32-bit MV8000 machine imported by Infosys.
The first client, Data Basics Corporation, based in New York, is signed on, which soon resulted in taking the leap for software development and service tie-ups with several marquee clients across Europe and the US.
Narayana Murthy, N. S. Raghavan, Nandan Nilekani, S. Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh, and Ashok Arora - establish Infosys in Pune, with an initial capital of US $250.
