Cognizant appoints Wipro veteran Jatin Dalal as its next CFO

Jatin Dalal

Wipro veteran Jatin Dalal has been appointed as the next Chief Financial Officer of Cognizant, the company said on September 28.

Dalal's appointment is expected to be effective December 2023. He will replace outgoing CFO Jan Siegmund, who is retiring from the company in early 2024. Siegmund will stay on as a non-executive officer and special advisor for the transition.

Dalal, a Wipro veteran of 21 years, resigned from the Bengaluru-based IT firm last week, and his last day at the company is November 30. He was Wipro's CFO for eight years. Aparna Iyer was appointed as Wipro's CFO from September 22.

Read: Jatin Dalal’s exit as Wipro CFO sets off disquiet, highlights turnaround struggle under CEO Thierry Delaporte

Cognizant said Dalal will oversee its "worldwide financial planning and analysis, accounting and controllership, tax, treasury and internal audit, corporate development, investor relations and enterprise risk management functions."

In a statement, Cognizant Chief Executive Officer Ravi Kumar S said he is confident Dalal will help the company achieve its goals as the company focuses on driving revenue growth.

"Jatin is a highly experienced technology services CFO with a proven track record of financial and operational success in a complex and quickly evolving industry," he said.

Dalal's resignation as the CFO of Wipro had also raised concerns, especially as it continues to lose top talent. Dalal's was the latest in a steady stream of top-level exits at Wipro. In a note, Kotak Institutional Equities said the high senior management attrition in the past several months is a concern, and while some changes may have been necessary to check underperformance, "the loss of key leaders continuing into the fourth year of turnaround since Delaporte took charge will not be viewed favourably."

Former Wipro CFO Suresh Senapaty had told Moneycontrol that Wipro must "regain its intolerance toward losing great talent".