Coforge shares slid 8% on Wednesday, hitting a low of ₹1,780.70, after chairman OP Bhatt abruptly quit the board with immediate effect.

Bhatt isn’t a small name to lose. He ran State Bank of India before taking over as Coforge’s chairman in 2024, on a term that was originally set to run until April 2027.

As part of its Q2 FY26 internal audit plan, Coforge auditors reviewed how the board’s own self-evaluation exercise, called the Board Evaluation Report or BER, was run and presented, a process Bhatt himself had led.

The audit found gaps. Some material details tied to that report, including information about the Chairman’s own performance, hadn’t been fully shared with the board when it was first presented.

The board raised its concerns and asked Bhatt to explain. He did, but before the board settled on a final view, he resigned anyway.

In his own resignation email, Bhatt said staying on while there was still disagreement over how his ‘good faith actions’ were being characterised would not help the board function properly.

He added there was no other reason behind the decision. Vivek Sharma, already an independent director on the board, now steps in as interim chairperson until 31 January 2027.

Bhatt has also come off every committee he sat on. In a separate filing, Coforge clarified that the matter has no bearing on its financial statements or business guidance.

The timing stings a bit given how the business has been performing. In the June quarter, net profit jumped 63.7% year-on-year to ₹519 crore, while revenue rose 49% to ₹5,527 crore.

The stock had also been one of the stronger performers in the IT space over the past year.

By 9:44 am, shares had pared some losses to trade at ₹1,848.70 on the NSE, down 5.19% on the day.

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