BENGALURU: Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy clarified there is no let-up in his demand that the board of India’s second-largest software company satisfactorily address the issues of poor corporate governance pinpointed by him last week, striking a firm stance in what looks set to be a fractious corporate battle.“No, I have not withdrawn my concern,” Murthy told ET on Monday after reports put out by news agencies indicated he had called off his objections in a sign of reconciliation.Murthy’s concerns relate to what he termed as ‘hush money’ paid to two former employees in the form of hefty severance payouts, and the steep fall in governance standards at the Bengaluru-based company since June 2015 (when R Seshasayee took over as the chairman of the board).“They (issues and concerns) have to be addressed properly by the board, and full transparency should be given and people responsible should become accountable,” said Murthy, 70, who cofounded the now-$10-billion firm in 1981.“The positive tweet by one of the directors is encouraging,” Murthy told ET, in a reference to independent board member Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw’s comment on microblogging site Twitter suggesting that the issue of severance pay to former CFO Rajiv Bansal could have been handled better.“It could have been moderated in hindsight,” wrote Mazumdar-Shaw in response to a tweet. At a press conference on Monday, Seshasayee said a new severance package plan has been put in place to ensure there are “no more Rajiv Bansals”.The measures outlined at the press conference by the Infosys chairman were contested by former chief financial officer V Balakrishnan, who said, “His (Rajiv Bansal’s) service was not terminated but he resigned on his own according to the company press release, and he even served his notice period of three months. Then where is the question of severance pay?” Balakrishnan added that Seshasayee’s “clarification raises more questions”.Murthy struck a positive note in his assessment of the intentions of the company’s board. “They are all good-intentioned people of high integrity, but obviously being human even good people sometimes make mistakes, this is one such case,” said Murthy.“But good leadership demands that they listen to all concerned shareholders, re-evaluate their decision and take corrective action. I hope they take corrective action soon and improve governance for a better future for the company,” he said.The software giant employs about 2 lakh technology workers, and is dependent on the US, Europe and the rest of the world for about 97% of its revenues, and has 18-plus clients who contribute more than $100 million in revenue.In an interview to ET published in its Friday edition, Murthy demanded a review of the role played by the special committee on senior management compensation and severance pay, as well as the board of the company with regard to high severance payouts. “Such payments raise doubts whether the company is using such payments as hush money to hide something,” he had said in the interview.The 2015-16 Infosys annual report showed that Infosys was to pay Rs 17.38 crore to then CFO Rajiv Bansal, who quit in October 2015, but continued to serve as an adviser to the CEO and the board until December. Infosys subsequently explained the payment as part of an enhanced non-compete.In an interview to ET published in its Monday edition, Seshasayee said the amount actually paid was Rs 5.2 crore and that “balance payments have been suspended since April 2016”.Former Infoscion Balakrishnan is of the view that other governance issues have come to the fore because of this issue (of the severance payout to Rajiv Bansal). “If investigations have proved there was nothing wrong, then why stop?” he said. “Someone has to own this up. The chairman should take responsibility,” he added.Murthy had demanded that the Infosys board be recast with “some good people” like Marti Subrahmanyam and that it should also induct unnamed former Infoscions, “schooled in the Infosys values”.“Institutional investors have access to board and the CEO. Normally they don’t go to the public and keep conversations direct,” said Kavil Ramachandran, executive director of ISB-Hyderabad’s Centre for Family Enterprise, adding that institutional shareholders have much more at stake than founders whose collective stake is just over 12%.