TCS, Infosys, Wipro: Can ex-Employees Work with Rivals?

The Indian IT sector employs over 51 lakh individuals as per a recent report by NASSCOM, with top companies like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, and others

The employment contracts of these companies have ‘non-compete clauses’ and other restrictions that prevent employees from working with competition.

For instance, the Non-Compete agreement section of Infosys’ employment contract says,

I agree that for a period of six (6) months following the termination of my employment with Infosys for any reason, I will not:

1. Accept any offer of employment from any Customer. 2. Accept any offer of employment from a Named Competitor of Infosys.

For the purposes of this Non-Compete Agreement, "Named Competitor" shall mean the following entities and their wholly owned subsidiaries:

i. Tata Consultancy Services Limited ii. Accenture Limited iii. International Business Machines Corporation iv. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation v. Wipro Limited

Wipro’s employment contract also has similar non-compete clauses.

“Wipro cannot restrict an employee, post termination of their employment, from working with a competitor,” she said.