Share price of Coforge slumped 7% in early trade as OP Bhatt announced his resignation as the non-executive independent director and chairperson of the company with immediate effect.
Bhatt’s resignation comes following concerns flagged by the company’s internal auditor flagged over the board evaluation exercise (BER), which was presented by former chairman Bhatt.
Following Bhatt’s resignation, Vivek Sharma, a non-executive independent director, has been appointed as the interim chairperson of Coforge till January 31, 2027.
Coforge board identifies concerns in BER
Coforge said that as part of its Q2 FY26 audit plan, the company’s internal auditor reviewed the processes pertaining to the board evaluation exercise and the resulting board evaluation report under the guidance of Bhatt.
According to its regulatory filing, the review identified concerns in the manner in which the evaluation exercise was conducted and presented, including material information associated with the BER.
Coforge said that the former Chairman had not fully disclosed these gaps when the BER was presented. Following these concerns, the mid-term IT firm sought an explanation from Bhatt.
While the former chairman provided his response and Coforge was in the process of evaluating the same, Bhatt tendered his resignation, and the company said that he acted in good faith.
Bhatt says appropriate to resign
Bhatt submitted his resignation letter, stating that continuing to be a part of the company, while there remains disagreement over the characteristics of his good faith action, would not be conducive to the functioning of the company.
“ I believe that continuing on the Board while there remains a disagreement considering the characteristics of my good faith actions in the Board evaluation process would not be conducive to the effective functioning of the Board,” Bhatt said in his resignation letter.
He clarified that the referred matters were the only reasons for this resignation,” Bhatt said in his resignation letter.
Coforge share price
The share price of Coforge was down over 6% in Wednesday’s intraday trade. Over the past one month, its stock has delivered a return of 2%, while over the past six months its share price has advanced over 60%.