BENGALURU: Information technology company Wipro has filed a lawsuit against its former chief financial officer Jatin Dalal who joined rival Cognizant this month. Earlier in September, Cognizant had announced Dalal will succeed Jan Siegmund, and will report to the company’s chief executive officer Ravi Kumar S. Wipro has initiated legal proceedings in civil court in Bengaluru.
Though Wipro and Cognizant didn’t respond to queries, it is said Dalal has requested the court to move the matter to arbitration and that a hearing is scheduled on January 3. Dalal joined Wipro in 2002 and became chief financial officer in April 2015 and also assumed additional responsibilities as President beginning in December 2019.
Previously, he was CFO of Wipro’s Global IT Business from 2011 to 2015, and prior to that, he served as Wipro’s UK head of finance for the Europe region and as the global finance head of energy & utilities, health care, and manufacturing business units.
The reason for the legal action is unclear. This comes days after the IT company filed a complaint against Mohd Haque, a former senior vice-president and head of healthcare and medical devices- Americas, alleging a violation of the non-compete clause in his employment contract. He moved from the company before expiration of the non-compete clause that was set until August 1, 2023.
He joined Cognizant recently. Wipro has seen many senior-level exits this year including operations head Sanjeev Singh, India business head Satya Easwaran, Americas Two CFO Nithin V Jaganmohan, iDEAS business head Rajan Kohli, and Americas One CFO Kamini Shah. Senior VP Ashish Saxena also exited the firm recently.
Meanwhile, reports claim Infosys sent a written communication to Cognizant as a few senior employees quit to join the firm. Queries sent to Infosys and Cognizant didn’t elicit any response. Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar, an Infosys veteran, took over as CEO in January, and hired many senior executives from Wipro and Infosys.