In its annual filing to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Infosys Ltd has said that “activist shareholders” of the company could affect its stock adversely, Mint reported on Tuesday. “Actions of activist shareholders may adversely affect our ability to execute our strategic priorities, and could impact the trading value of our securities,” Infosys said the SEC filing.

The company has been criticised for its corporate governance policies, with its co-founder Narayana Murthy publicly questioning several decisions taken to the effect. “Media coverage and public scrutiny of our business practices, policies and actions has increased dramatically over the past 12 months, particularly negative and in some cases, inaccurate posts or comments in the media,” the company said, according to The Economic Times.

The founders of Infosys together hold 12.75% equity in the company. Of the seven co-founders, five of them – including Murthy and Nandan Nilekani – are categorised as promoters. Infosys on Tuesday, however, stressed that the company was not referring to its promoters as “activist shareholders”. “We would like to categorically state that activist shareholders called out as a risk in our Form 20-F does not refer to any particular group of investors or individuals,” Mint quoted an Infosys spokesperson as saying.

In February this year, the founders, led by Murthy, had taken issue with a pay hike given to Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka, and the severance pay granted to former Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Bansal. In April, Murthy had denounced the company’s decision to increase Chief Operating Officer UB Pravin Rao’s pay by a significant amount. Murthy had also publicly demanded the resignation of Infosys Chairperson R Seshasayee over “failing corporate governance”.