Mindtree names former Cognizant executive Debashis Chatterjee as CEO

Indian IT services firm Mindtree Ltd on Friday named former Cognizant executive Debashis Chatterjee as its new managing director and chief executive officer.

S.N. Subrahmanyan, CEO of Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T), will be appointed non-executive vice chairman, the company said.

Both appointments are effective from Friday, Mindtree said in a statement to exchanges.

The changes come a month after manufacturing-to-software conglomerate L&T bought a 60.06% stake in Mindtree, following a hostile bid to acquire a controlling stake, the first such pursuit in India's software services industry.

L&T's hostile bid was also rare in India's corporate sector, where unsolicited suitors are usually deterred by founders with large shareholdings.

Mindtree's former CEO Rostow Ravanan, Executive Chairman Krishnakumar Natarajan and Executive Vice-Chairman Parthasarathy N.S. resigned on July 3, two days after L&T raised its stake in the company.

Mindtree's new CEO Chatterjee previously led the digital sytems and technology practice at Teaneck, New Jersey-based IT firm Cognizant, which has a large presence in India.