This is what Cognizant CMD Rajesh Nambiar has to say on employee poaching 'accusations'

Cognizant has been under fire recently for hiring senior-level employees from rival companies. Rival Wipro has filed lawsuits against at least two of Cognizant employees including Cognizant’s current chief financial officer Jatin Dalal (former Wipro CFO) who joined in December. Meanwhile, Infosys has alleged Cognizant of using “unethical poaching tactics” in a communication likely directed at CEO Ravi Kumar, who was formerly Infosys president.
Cognizant India Chairman and Managing Director Rajesh Nambiar recently broke silence on the issue. Though Nambiar refused to be drawn into specifics of the matter, he said that if companies want to enforce contracts they have with employees, "it is certainly their prerogative". He, however, added that there cannot be a broader industry-wide norm on non-poaching.
"There is not going to be a broader industry-wide norm saying you can't hire from each other...because this industry was built by talent moving from one company to the other, so there should not be any issue in terms of having the right flow, as long as it is done within the broader framework of how the employment contracts work."
It is a "free world"
He further asserted that the poaching issue has not impacted Cognizant. "It does not affect us at all. None of this has affected us. As in, if you are talking about Cognizant, I don't think there is any impact whatsoever for us. And it should not have any impact on the industry as well," said Nambiar.
"...we are one of the companies which, even at the entry-level, we do not have a bond or a service agreement. We go out and hire from the campuses," Nambiar said.
He went on to add that "it is a free world out there". "As I said, it's a free world out there. I think it is important for people to have a little more mobility ...but having said that, you also have employment contracts with companies, and you are willfully signing that or not signing that depending on the choices that you make...So, it is very important for the employee and their corresponding company to have an understanding as to how they deal with all of that," he said.