Wipro executives cannot join Cognizant, 9 other rival firms for 12 months after exit

They are barred from joining these companies under a non-compete clause, which is included in their Wipro contract.

Senior executives who leave Wipro cannot join 10 rival firms for one year starting from their last day at the IT major. This is because of a non-compete clause in their contract that bars them from joining any of these companies immediately after leaving the software firm.

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This is as per the lawsuit filed by the Bengaluru-based giant against ex-CFO Jatin Dalal, who joined rival Cognizant, and from whom the Rishad Premji-led company is seeking ₹25.15 crore (plus 18% interest per annum till the full payment is made) in damages for his actions.

Which are these 10 companies?

These are: Accenture, Capgemini, Cognizant, Deloitte, DXC Technology, HCL, IBM, Infosys, TCS, and Tech Mahindra. Each of these names, claims Wipro, was mentioned in Dalal's contract, yet he joined a direct competitor, where he arrived as CFO in September last year, months after resigning from Wipro.

Dalal joined Wipro in 2002, and became its CFO in 2015; in 2019, he was given the additional responsibilities as its President. In such senior roles, therefore, he would be ‘privy to confidential information in relation to the company’s strategy and business,' the lawsuit says.

Mohd Haque, Wipro's former Senior VP who also joined Cognizant, too has been sued by his previous employer.

Other senior level exits from Wipro

Last year, the IT major saw multiple top executives depart; of these, however, only Dalal and Haque got sued. Other key leaders who said goodbye were COO Sanjeev Singh, iDEAS business head Rajan Kohli, Americas 1 CFO Kamini Shah, Americas 2 CFO Nithin V Jaganmohan, India head Satya Easwaran, VP Gurwinder Sahni, and Ashish Saxena, who headed its manufacturing the high-tech business unit.

Stephanie Trautman, the company's chief growth officer, resigned last month.