Now Reading: Coforge appoints Akhil Gupta as chairperson after board exits
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Coforge appoints Akhil Gupta as chairperson after board exits
Coforge Ltd has appointed former Bharti Enterprises vice-chairman Akhil Kumar Gupta as its chairperson and non-executive independent director for five years from September 29, the company announced on September 28. The Deccan…
Coforge Ltd has appointed former Bharti Enterprises vice-chairman Akhil Kumar Gupta as its chairperson and non-executive independent director for five years from September 29, the company announced on September 28. The Deccan Herald reports the appointment of the chartered accountant with over 40 years of experience. Livemint says the move ends a boardroom tussle that saw former chairperson OP Bhatt and NRC head DK Singh resign within four days in early September, citing disagreements and governance concerns.
Interim chairperson Vivek Sharma said a global search by Egon Zehnder produced 60 candidates and Gupta was chosen unanimously. CEO Sudhir Singh said Gupta's experience at Bharti Enterprises would help Coforge navigate the AI era. Gupta also chairs ONE WAM Ltd and Bharti Life Insurance and serves on boards of Zepto, Snapdeal, Eutelsat Communications and Lodha Developers. Coforge's revenue was $1.87 billion last year, up 29.2%.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Deccan Herald reported the appointment as a routine board change, omitting the resignations and KPMG audit entirely. Livemint detailed the boardroom crisis: Bhatt resigned after KPMG found irregularities in the board evaluation, Advent International opposed his reappointment citing age, and both former directors allegedly withheld a poor evaluation report from the board. The balanced reading is that Coforge has installed a highly credentialed chair after a governance breakdown flagged by its own auditor. The next test is whether the new board restores investor confidence, the company's next quarterly filing will show if the governance issues are resolved.
Coverage: 2 sources, 1 government-critical, 1 neutral
Sources (2): deccanherald.com (neutral report), livemint.com (government critical)
This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry.
