BENGALURU: Cognizant India CMD Rajesh Nambiar has resigned from his position after a four-year stint with the Nasdaq-listed company. He will succeed Debjani Ghosh as the president-designate of the $250 billion Indian IT industry body Nasscom.
Meanwhile, Rajesh Varrier will replace Nambiar as Cognizant India CMD effective Oct 1. He is also the global head of operations, effective Sept 2.Varrier will be an EVP at Cognizant, reporting to CEO Ravi Kumar S and based in Bengaluru. Before joining Cognizant, Varrier served as EVP, head of global services, Infosys Americas.
Nambiar, who currently holds the position of Nasscom chairperson, was initially part of the search committee tasked with finding a new president. However, the committee, which was steered by WNS CEO Keshav Murugesh and members including Sindhu Gangadharan, SVP and MD of SAP Labs India, former Nasscom president Som Mittal, Mindtree co-founder Krishnakumar Natarajan, and Onward Technologies founder Harish Mehta, has asked Nambiar to consider his nomination for the president’s role. Sources told TOI that Nambiar recused himself from the search committee as he emerged as the frontrunner for the role of leading the Indian IT industry body. Before joining Cognizant in 2020, Nambiar held the position of chairman and president at network solutions partner Ciena India. Prior to that, he worked at IBM, where he oversaw an application services practice worth $8 billion.
Murugesh, head of the Nasscom Search Committee, said, “Nasscom today stands on the brink of a monumental digital transformation. Our primary focus has been to identify an India evangelist who can not only sustain but also accelerate this transformation.”