Coforge Ltd has appointed Akhil Gupta as a Non-Executive Independent Director and Chairperson of the company, marking a key change in the IT services firm’s board leadership. Gupta’s appointment will be effective from Sept. 29, 2026, for a period of five years.
The appointment comes weeks after Coforge faced changes at the top of its board, including the resignation of former Chairman O P Bhatt and independent director and Nomination and Remuneration Committee (NRC) Chairperson D K Singh.
Gupta is the former Vice Chairman of Bharti Enterprises and was associated with the growth of the Bharti group from its early years. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of 360 ONE WAM Ltd and Bharti Life Insurance Ltd. He is also a board member at Zepto, Snapdeal, Eutelsat Communications and Lodha Developers.
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A Chartered Accountant, Gupta has more than 40 years of professional experience. He also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2002.
The appointment comes at a time when Coforge is sharpening its focus on artificial intelligence and enterprise transformation.
“As our industry, in turn, navigates the AI-led era and as Coforge pivots towards making the promise of AI real for enterprises, we welcome Mr. Gupta as he steps onto the Board. We are excited at the immense opportunities ahead of us and thrilled to have a person of his calibre and governance experience join us as the Chairperson of the Board,” said Sudhir Singh, CEO and Executive Director, Coforge.
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Coforge has been expanding its AI capabilities in recent months. The company launched its AI Launchpad in September, aimed at helping enterprises build, fine-tune, deploy and operate AI stacks within their own controlled environments.
Leadership Changes Follow Governance Review
Gupta’s appointment follows a series of board changes at Coforge. Former Chairman O P Bhatt resigned from the company’s board on Sept. 8 following concerns arising from an internal audit of the board evaluation process. The audit by KPMG identified issues with the way certain findings from the Board Evaluation Report were handled and presented to the board.
According to Coforge’s disclosures, Bhatt’s evaluation scores were available to Bhatt and D K Singh, who was then the Chairperson of the NRC, but certain findings were not shared with the full board. Reports said Bhatt had received the lowest rating in the relevant performance assessment.
D K Singh subsequently resigned as an independent director and NRC Chairperson with immediate effect on Sept. 11. Singh cited differences and tension between independent and executive directors, while Coforge disputed the explanation and said the resignation followed the internal audit review and the subsequent process of seeking explanations from Bhatt and Singh.
Following the exits, Vivek Sharma, a Non-Executive Independent Director, was designated interim Chairperson and was tasked with overseeing the search for additional independent directors and a new permanent Chairperson.
The board also reconstituted the NRC and Stakeholders’ Relationship Committee, with Beth Boucher designated as Chairperson of the NRC. Coforge’s current committee disclosures list Boucher as NRC Chairperson.
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