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CognizantExecutive departure

Avanade appoints former Cognizant leader Achal Kataria as India CEO

What happened

Achal Kataria, who led the company's India operations, has left Cognizant to join Avanade.

Source

Article excerpt

Highlighted: the sentence this signal was extracted from

The Microsoft and Accenture-backed Avanade has appointed Achal Kataria as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of its India business, effective immediately. Kataria joins from Cognizant, where he led the company's India operations, and brings more than 30 years of experience in technology services to a company sharpening its focus on AI, cloud and enterprise transformation. Kataria brings more than three decades of experience in technology services and business transformation. Most recently, he headed Cognizant's India business, where he was responsible for growth, strategic client relationships and market expansion. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership positions at EXL, Tech Mahindra, Genpact and Hughes Software Systems, working across sectors including banking, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications and life sciences. At Avanade, Kataria will oversee the company's business strategy and operations in India. His mandate includes expanding the firm's market presence and helping clients convert digital and AI investments into measurable business outcomes, as enterprises across the country move beyond AI experimentation towards large-scale deployment. Commenting on his appointment, Kataria said India is entering a significant phase of technology-led transformation, with organisations across the country adopting digital technologies at...

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Extracted by Autobound

From the Signal API record
Event
Executive departure

What this signalsA leader's exit often changes who makes buying decisions.

Person
Achal KatariaHead of India business
Location
India

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The full record

From the Signal API record

People

  • Achal KatariaHead of India business · Named in the story

Topics and mentions

Job title tags

  • directors

Extraction

Confidence
90%
Detected
Aug 25, 2026
signal_type
news
signal_subtype
leaves

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The API returns more than this page shows

This page shows a preview. The full news record in the Signal API and MCP can also have these 8 fields. Some fields are empty for some signals.

Company

  • linkedin_urlValue in the API
  • industriesValue in the API
  • employee_count_lowValue in the API
  • employee_count_highValue in the API
  • revenueValue in the API
  • descriptionValue in the API

Signal

  • signal_nameValue in the API
  • associationValue in the API
Show the full JSONThe record on this page and the API request

GET /v1/signals/6c10be6d-4f42-a8a3-fac4-7b0c3b1dec72 returns this record as JSON. POST /v1/companies/enrich returns every signal for cognizant.com.

{
  "signal_id": "6c10be6d-4f42-a8a3-fac4-7b0c3b1dec72",
  "signal_type": "news",
  "signal_subtype": "leaves",
  "detected_at": "2026-08-25T07:10:05+00:00",
  "company": {
    "name": "Cognizant",
    "domain": "cognizant.com"
  },
  "data": {
    "url": "https://www.consultancy.in/news/4561/avanade-appoints-former-cognizant-leader-achal-kataria-as-india-ceo",
    "title": "Avanade appoints former Cognizant leader Achal Kataria as India CEO - Consultancy.in",
    "contact": "Achal Kataria",
    "excerpt": "The Microsoft and Accenture-backed Avanade has appointed Achal Kataria as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of its India business, effective immediately. Kataria joins from Cognizant, where he led the company’s India operations, and brings more than 30 years of experience in technology services to a company sharpening its focus on AI, cloud and enterprise transformation. Kataria brings more than three decades of experience in technology services and business transformation. Most recently, he headed Cognizant’s India business, where he was responsible for growth, strategic client relationships and market expansion. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership positions at EXL, Tech Mahindra, Genpact and Hughes Software Systems, working across sectors including banking, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications and life sciences. At Avanade, Kataria will oversee the company’s business strategy and operations in India. His mandate includes expanding the firm’s market presence and helping clients convert digital and AI investments into measurable business outcomes, as enterprises across the country move beyond AI experimentation towards large-scale deployment. Commenting on his appointment, Kataria said India is entering a significant phase of technology-led transformation, with organisations across the country adopting digital technologies at speed...",
    "summary": "Achal Kataria, who led the company's India operations, has left Cognizant to join Avanade.",
    "location": "India",
    "planning": false,
    "image_url": "https://www.consultancy.in/illustrations/news/spotlight/2026-08-24-094833625-Avanade_appoints_former_Cognizant_leader_Achal_Kataria_as_India_CEO.jpg?webp",
    "job_title": "Head of India business",
    "confidence": 0.9,
    "published_at": "2026-08-25T07:10:05Z",
    "location_data": [
      {
        "region": "Southern Asia",
        "country": "India",
        "continent": "Asia",
        "fuzzy_match": false
      }
    ],
    "job_title_tags": [
      "directors"
    ],
    "article_sentence": "Kataria joins from Cognizant, where he led the company’s India operations, and brings more than 30 years of experience in technology services to a company sharpening its focus on AI, cloud and enterprise transformation."
  }
}

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