Infosys accuses Cognizant of unfair employee poaching, sends letter to firm

Infosys sent a written communication to Cognizant after a number of its senior executives left to join the firm

The poaching row among top IT firms has heated up, with Infosys now accusing Cognizant of unethical poaching practices, reported Moneycontrol.

The complaint by Infosys follows one made by its cross-town rival Wipro, which has sued two of its former executives who have recently joined Nasdaq-listed Cognizant.

According to the report, Infosys sent a written communication to Cognizant after a number of its senior personnel left to join the firm. "Non-compete clauses are not enforceable, but this communication to Cognizant was more of a deterrent," one of the sources said.

Meanwhile, a second source said that the communication was sent some weeks ago.

Since taking over in January of this year, Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar, an Infosys veteran himself, has hired over 20 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 legal proceedings against Dalal were initiated by Wipro at a civil court in Bengaluru, reported The Times of India (ToI). Following the initiation of the suit by Wipro, Dalal promptly submitted an application and asked the court to refer the matter to arbitration.

While the exact reason behind the legal proceedings remains unclear at the moment, the report suggests that the arguments from both parties have been heard, and a hearing has been scheduled for January 3. At the hearing, the court is expected to pass an order on whether the matter should be referred to arbitration.

In the case of Mohd Haque, one of Wipro's former senior executives who also moved to Cognizant, the company said that Haque violated the non-compete clause by joining Cognizant before August.

The company added that Haque had agreed not to work with Wipro's competitors for 12 months after the end of his employment. It further alleged that Haque held confidential information about the company and uploaded some of the files from his personal email account.