The Infosys treasury team based in India manages the group’s global requirements around investments, liquidity and working capital, Forex (FX) and currency risk, regulatory compliances, aligning and embedding itself within the overall business objectives of Infosys.

Operational resilience and Covid response – with many of the countries globally (and India) facing multiple lockdowns and consequently working from home during the Covid pandemic, the team had to respond swiftly to the unprecedented situation given the heightened operational risks of treasury operations and to ensure business continuity. The team delved into stress-testing scenarios for each group entity and country to ensure smooth continuity of its business operation. The team quickly triggered business continuity planning (BCP) with its banking partners and put in place digital documentation and transaction processes instead of wet-ink documentation. This was further complemented by robust systems set-up, 24/7 co-ordination, and additional measures for risk mitigation. All these actions ensured that business and treasury operations could continue to operate seamlessly.

FX and currency risk management – with global presence in over 50+ countries, currency risk management is a key focus area for the treasury team. Infosys has a robust FX and currency risk management policy in place. The team constantly monitors market developments globally to tailor its response to the dynamic and complex FX environment. Robust and resilient actions of the team during an ever-changing, volatile and challenging environment ensured 29 consecutive quarters of positive FX net impact.

Investments – a third of the average balance sheet is directly under treasury’s management and the team manages large investible surplus of over US$4bn, with substantial exposure to marketable securities. The highly volatile market environment over the last 12-18 months, bottoming out of interest rates, geo-political uncertainty, and current rising interest rates scenario, all required an extremely dynamic response from the team to ensure resilient and optimal portfolio returns, which not only anchor the yields for the long-term but also ensure opportunities for early participation in a rising interest rate environment.

Liquidity and working capital management – Infosys operates globally from 247 locations across 54 countries, through 125+ entities (both subsidiaries and branches). The operations therefore are exposed to all geographies and multiple time zones. Liquidity and operation risk management is the key performance indicator (KPI) whilst managing the cash flows. The team is also responsible for ensuring objectives on working capital metrics are met and there is no deterioration, even during the current market environment. To this end, the team worked extensively with its core partner banks to continuously improve and automate all banking aspects with the objective of achieving new-age banking solutions. Further, the team successfully scaled-up the accounts receivables (AR) programme with the dual objective of working capital management and AR risk mitigation. The team also led the launch of supplier invoice pre-payment programme to embed working capital efficiencies in Infosys’ procure-to-pay process and help strengthen its vendor relationships. The liquidity management has been extremely robust and effective which resulted in approximately 10% reduction in average idle balances over the past three years, despite the company’s growth of almost 30% in the same period. Additionally, it is worth noting that there has not been a single credit default in the portfolio despite extreme geo-political and global uncertainties. Treasury has been an active partner in the company’s robust capital allocation policy execution and has efficiently executed large buy-back programmes and periodic dividend pay-outs.

Best in the industry risk management, treasury resilience and automation – to ensure Infosys treasury becomes a centre of excellence, all the above objectives are being pursued around a base of digitised treasury operations at Infosys.

A package of treasury solutions across all the core treasury area has been implemented during the last 12-18 months such that treasury operations are digitised and automated, systems and processes are stronger, and manual intervention is minimised. Infosys is well prepared for any future unfavourable events like the Covid pandemic.

Agility and operational resilience – the global pandemic and the harsh multiple lockdowns in various countries globally required a highly agile response from the team to the ever-evolving business and regulatory environment. The team not only demonstrated its agility and resilience during this phase, but also ensured treasury operations are future proofed for any future disruption through a series of automation initiatives.

Partnership approach – any strategic change can be disruptive and consequently requires extensive engagement across internal and external stakeholders. Above all, the team’s ability to navigate and align with multiple stakeholders (banking, business finance, accounts receivable, finance, legal, tax, etc.) through its partnership-driven approach is the bedrock of its continued success.

Key benefits

• Cost savings.
• Process efficiencies.
• Increased automation.
• Risk mitigation.
• Improved visibility.
• Reduced manual intervention.
• Increased system connectivity.
• Future proof solution.

Conclusion

The Infosys treasury team is known for setting the standards for best industry practices and their continued efforts over the last 12-18 months demonstrate this, both in terms of objectives achieved and the ability to turn challenges into opportunities. The team has become a trusted centre of excellence within Infosys through its partnership led approach on various new initiatives around operational resilience, liquidity management, currency risk management and working capital efficiencies. With a footprint across 50+ countries globally and exposure to numerous currencies, many of which are complex and restrictive in nature, the team has not only successfully navigated various risks posed by the Covid pandemic, but also future-proofed its operations for the coming years. The team’s proactive efforts in engaging internal and external stakeholders, including extracting maximum value from its core banking relationships, truly demonstrates the agility and resilience of Infosys as a publicly listed company.

“Our treasury team is one of the best in class in the country, demonstrated by a consistent performance across multiple parameters – effective hedging strategies insulating the financials from the negative impact of currency fluctuations, optimised yields in a low interest regime and significant reduction in working capital while the revenues have grown consistently. All of this has been achieved by a highly talented and experienced team with effective use of technology and automation. I commend the treasury team for their incredibly long streak of positive contributions,” – Mr Sunil Dhareshwar, Senior Vice President, Finance – Global Head of Corporate Treasury, Tax, Corporate Accounting, Infrastructure & Facilities.

Treasury Today agrees and we congratulate the Infosys Treasury Team on being awarded Top Treasury Team in 2022.