Davos 2025: About 10,000 more ex-employees want to rejoin Cognizant, says CEO Ravi Kumar S

Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S.

After 13,000 former Cognizant employees rejoined the company in 2024, approximately 10,000 more are waiting to return to the information technology major.

“We've built an extraordinary team. I have 13,000 people who have come back into Cognizant, who left Cognizant. And I have 10,000 more who want to come back. So we are a magnet for leadership,” the Teaneck, US-headquartered firm’s chief executive officer Ravi Kumar S told Moneycontrol at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 22.

When asked about the counterclaim filed by Cognizant’s Bengaluru-based rival Infosys in the TriZetto case, Kumar said he is protecting the intellectual property of his firm.

On January 10, Moneycontrol exclusively reported that India’s second-largest software exporter Infosys filed a counterclaim against the NASDAQ-listed rival in a US court, alleging that the company and Kumar indulged in anti-competitive tactics and misused sensitive information to slow down the growth of its healthcare platform, Infosys Helix.

The counterclaim was in response to a lawsuit filed by Cognizant’s subsidiary Cognizant TriZetto, alleging that Infosys stole trade secrets related to its healthcare insurance software.

“I'm doing my job. It's business as usual for me. I'm continuing to do what is right for the company. I'm protecting the intellectual property of the firm,” Kumar said.

The Infosys suit also has significant portions on Kumar, its former executive. Infosys has alleged that while Kumar initially supported developing its healthcare insurance offering Helix in 2019, he suddenly retracted internal support when he started communicating with Cognizant about joining it in 2022. This included not giving resources for the platform and delaying its launch.

Reacting to this, Kumar said, “I haven't made any. So I'm not worried about that bit.”

He further said that he is very clear in his mind that the focus is to get the company back into the winner's circle. “And I think we're making great progress.”

As many as 3,000 leaders from 130 countries are expected at the 55th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum whose theme this time is "Collaboration for the Intelligent Age".