Shares of Infosys Limited rallied over 4% in early trade on Thursday after the company announced that its promoter and promoter group, including co-founders N R Narayana Murthy, Sudha Murty, have chosen not to participate in the company’s Rs. 18,000 crore share buyback.
“The Promoter and Promoter Group of the Company have expressed their intention of not participating in the Buyback,” Infosys stated, adding that following the buyback, their collective voting rights, currently at 13.05% may change depending on the overall response to the offer.
The promoter group includes key founding members and their families. Among them are Narayana Murthy’s wife Sudha Murty, daughter Akshata Murty, and son Rohan Murty, as well as Nandan Nilekani, his wife Rohini Nilekani, and their children Nihar and Janhavi Nilekani. Other co-founders and their family members also form part of the promoter group.
Infosys’ Rs. 18,000 crore buyback is the largest to date. The buyback will be conducted through the tender offer route, allowing shareholders to tender their shares at a fixed price of Rs. 1,800 per equity share.
The company plans to repurchase 10 crore fully paid-up equity shares, representing approximately 2.41% of its total paid-up equity capital as of June 30, 2025.
The Infosys board approved the buyback on September 11, 2025, as a part of its capital allocation strategy that aims to distribute 85% of free cash flows to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases over five years.
Following the announcement, Infosys shares surged to Rs. 1,533 a piece, emerging as the top gainer on the Nifty 50 index. The rally also lifted the Nifty IT index by 2.4%, making it the best-performing sectoral index on Thursday morning.
Market analysts said the promoter's decision not to participate in the buyback signals their confidence in the company’s growth trajectory.
“The move improves the entitlement ratio for retail investors and underscores the promoters’ positive outlook for Infosys,” said Saurabh Jain, Assistant Vice President of Retail Equities at SMC Global Securities.
Infosys has consistently used buybacks as a shareholder value-enhancing tool. The company’s first buyback in 2017 was worth Rs. 13,000 crore at Rs. 1,150 per share.
It followed with subsequent buybacks of Rs. 8,260 crore in 2019, Rs. 9,200 crore in 2021, and Rs. 9,300 crore in 2022 via the open market route.
The latest Rs. 18,000 crore buyback not only marks the biggest in the company’s history but also reinforces its focus on balancing growth investments with shareholder returns.
Analysts expect the move will help Infosys' stock performance in the short term, especially because of the growing demand visibility and unchanged client spending in the global IT sector.