Infosys has reignited its legal battle with Cognizant, accusing the Nasdaq-listed rival of systematically poaching key staff from its healthcare platform Helix in an attempt to hinder the project’s progress, Mint reported.
As per the report, Infosys has named two senior Cognizant executives chief people officer Kathryn Diaz and Surya Gummadi, head of Cognizant’s Americas division for allegedly recruiting important Helix personnel.
Infosys believes this has slowed development of its healthcare platform.
It stated that under CEO Ravi Kumar S’s leadership, Cognizant hired two former Infosys executives, Shveta Arora and Ravi Kuchibhotla, who had worked closely on Helix. Arora joined Cognizant in December 2023 as head of consulting and Kuchibhotla joined in August 2024 as chief strategy officer.
Cognizant denied the allegations, telling Business Standard that Diaz was appointed after Kumar joined and calling Infosys’ accusations “misleading” while repeating its counter-allegation that Infosys had previously misappropriated Cognizant’s trade secrets linked to its TriZetto healthcare platform.
The current escalation follows Infosys’ 9 January court filing, in which it accused Kumar a former senior Infosys executive of deliberately delaying Helix’s launch while negotiating his transition to lead the Nasdaq-listed firm. Kumar played a significant role in the Helix project while at Infosys, where he worked until October 2022. He began his new role at Cognizant in January 2023.
The dispute began in August 2024, when Cognizant accused Infosys of misappropriating trade secrets related to its healthcare software. Infosys rejected the allegations and filed counterclaims, asserting that Cognizant failed to adequately identify the material allegedly taken.
In its 13 June submission, Infosys stated that both Gummadi and Diaz possess documents pertinent to the ongoing lawsuit, reinforcing its assertions of deliberate interference in the Helix project.
Infosys vs Cognizant
The legal conflict centres on alleged trade-secret theft. Last year Cognizant sued Infosys, accusing it of stealing secrets related to its US subsidiary TriZetto’s healthcare-insurance software.
Cognizant alleged that Infosys used proprietary information from TriZetto’s QNXT and Facets products to develop its own competing platform, the Infosys Business Assurance Store.
It further claimed that in December 2023 it discovered Infosys had created a repository of test cases for Facets and QNXT using confidential information obtained through non-disclosure and access agreements signed with clients.
