After Wipro, Infosys To Act Against Cognizant’s “Unethical Poaching Tactics” 

The Indian IT sector is currently witnessing a poaching war, with companies such as Wipro and Infosys acting against Cognizant for their “unethical poaching tactics” after several of its executives quit to join the Nasdaq-listed firm. In a recent turn of events, Infosys sent a written communication to Cognizant after a few of its senior leaders quit to join the company.

Earlier, Wipro had filed a lawsuit against two of its former executives—Mohd Haque and Jatin Dalal—who joined Cognizant recently.

“Non-compete clauses are not enforceable, but this communication to Cognizant was more of a deterrent,” Moneycontrol reported, quoting sources.

Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar, himself a former Infosys veteran, had dragged Wipro and Infosys into jeopardy by hiring their senior executives. Ravi Kumar had appointed twenty executive vice presidents and four senior vice presidents, many of whom belonged to Wipro and Infosys, since January this year, when he took charge of Cognizant.

In the past 12 months, Infosys and Wipro have cumulatively lost more than 15 senior-level executives to major rival companies.

The key executives that Cognizant fetched from Infosys include Anurag Vardhan Sinha, Nageswar Cherukupalli, Narsimha Rao Mannepalli, and Shweta Arora. The Infosys move will have an impact on their tenure at Cognizant, given that the first two have already joined Cognizant, while the latter two were reportedly expected to join as head of delivery and head of consulting.

Talking about Dalal’s exit in an interview with the Economic Times in October, Wipro chief executive Thierry Delaporte stated that he wanted “to develop communication with a new approach, with a generation who will lead Wipro for the next few years.”