<PAGE>

EXHIBIT 31.1

     CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, Bharat Desai, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Syntel,
Inc., certify that:

     1.   I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Syntel, Inc.;

     2.   Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
          statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
          necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
          under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to
          the period covered by this report;

     3.   Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
          information included in this report, fairly present in all material
          respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows
          of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this
          report;

     4.   The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for
          establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
          defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) and internal
          control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
          13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

               a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
               such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
               supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
               registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made
               known to us by others within those entities, particularly during
               the period in which this report is being prepared;

               b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
               caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
               designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance
               regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the
               preparation of financial statements for external purposes in
               accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

               c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
               controls and procedures and presented in this report our
               conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
               and procedure, as of the end of the period covered by this report
               based on such evaluation; and

               d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
               internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
               the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's
               fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has
               materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
               affect, the registrant's internal control over financial
               reporting; and

     5.   The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed,
          based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over


                                      109

<PAGE>

          financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit
          committee of registrant's board of directors (or persons performing
          the equivalent functions):

               a) All significant deficiencies and material weakness in the
               design or operation of internal control over financial reporting
               which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's
               ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
               information; and

               b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management
               or other employees who have a significant role in the
               registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

Date March 14, 2006


By /S/ Bharat Desai
   ----------------------------------
   BHARAT DESAI
   CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT, AND
   CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER


                                      110