Infosys alleges unfair employee poaching by Cognizant, sends missive to the firm

Infosys' accusation follows a similar one by its cross-town rival Wipro, which has sued two of its former executives who recently joined Nasdaq-listed Cognizant.

The poaching row among top IT firms has intensified, with Infosys now accusing Cognizant of unethical poaching tactics.

Infosys' accusation follows a similar one by its cross-town rival Wipro, which has sued two of its former executives who recently joined Nasdaq-listed Cognizant.

Infosys-Cognizant lock horns 

At least three people familiar with the development told Moneycontrol that Infosys had sent a written communication to Cognizant after a few of its senior leaders departed to join the firm.

"Non-compete clauses are not enforceable but this communication to Cognizant was more of a deterrent", one of the sources cited above said.

A second source said it was sent some weeks ago.

Since he took charge in January this year, Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar, an Infosys veteran himself, has hired over twenty executive vice presidents and four senior vice presidents, many of whom are from Wipro and Infosys.

Wipro has now filed suits in the US and India against two of its former executives- Mohd Haque and Jatin Dalal- who joined Cognizant recently.

The notable Cognizant hires from Infosys include Anurag Vardhan Sinha, Nageswar Cherukupalli, Narsimha Rao Mannepalli and Shweta Arora.

While the first two have already joined Cognizant, the latter two were tipped to join as head of delivery and head of consulting. But Infosys' move to send a missive may have delayed those plans, according to one of the sources cited above.

While Mannepalli left Infosys in June, Arora left in October. Their LinkedIn profiles haven't been updated to reflect the new organisational roles.

Infosys and Cognizant did not respond to queries at the time of publishing.

Weak business environment

The standoff with Cognizant comes at a time when both Infosys and Wipro are battling a tough business environment coupled with senior management attrition.

While Infosys has seen 7-8 leaders depart in the last twelve months, Wipro has seen close to 10 top-level exits this calendar year. Many of them subsequently went on to join rival firms.