Employees of the beleaguered Satyam Computer Services are now finding it difficult to get personal loans or pay back equated monthly instalments. Even their credit card limits have been reduced by almost 80 per cent since banks have become stringent following reports of the severe cash crunch at Satyam on the back of the admission of a financial fraud by the former company chairman Ramalinga Raju.
The team comprising advisors and inspectors from SFIO has gone to assist the officials of the Hyderabad registrar of companies, which is at present conducting investigations. Minister of corporate affairs Prem Chand Gupta had on Wednesday directed the RoC Hyderabad to look into the Satyam issue and submit a preliminary investigation report by January 14.
Leading accounting firm KPMG on Friday said the existing management of beleaguered Satyam Computer Services should go and the government take control of the company board to save the image of India Inc.
The eight companies, against which the ministry of corporate affairs has ordered inspection on Thursday, include Maytas Properties and Maytas Infrastructure. Following the disclosure, the MCA has asked the Registrar of Companies, Hyderabad to investigate the company, while market regulator Sebi also ordered a probe.
Ram Myanampati, the interim chief executive officer of beleaguered Satyam Computer Services, on Thursday admitted that he himself is on a shaky ground.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, an advisory and consulting firm whose sister company audited the accounts of Hyderabad-based Satyam Computer Services, has a chequered past with Indian tax authorities, having admitted its "mistake" in at least two cases of tax evasion.
The hearing of the forgery case filed by British mobile solution firm Upaid against Satyam Computer Services is not scheduled for hearing during this week. This means no Satyam official -- neither B Ramalinga Raju who stepped down as its chairman after admitting to a financial fraud nor any other top executive -- is in the US for the case. When contacted, a Satyam spokesperson confirmed the development and added that Raju was 'very much' in Hyderabad.
Software company Tech Mahindra said it may evaluate the telecom business of the Satyam Computer Services for acquisition.
Millions of shareholders would be hurt by the developments as the Satyam management was not fair to them, said the official, who did not want to be named. The SFIO investigation would form part of the coordinated action by all the regulatory and enforcement agencies, the official said.
Ram Mynampati, the interim chief executive of the beleaguered Satyam Computer Services, wrote an impassioned letter to all the employees to the company, asking them to stand together in these turbulent times.
CII believes there is a need to immediately examine the loopholes in regulation, accounting, audit and governance that allowed such lapses to occur and address them with urgency. While the occurrence of such events in a major company is a matter of deep regret, CII believes it would be inappropriate for this to be the basis of questioning of general governance standards in other companies.
The National Association of Software and Services Companies, the apex body of the IT-BPO industry in India, on Wednesday expressed shock at the disclosures made by Satyam Computer Services chairman B Ramalinga Raju.
The holding is expected to come down further as the promoters has pledged the entire holdings over a period of time since September 2006. More institutional lenders are expected to exercise their option of selling the pledged shares to cover margin calls.
The decision of Satyam Computer Services to give itself time to consider a series of options to shore up investor confidence, including steps to strengthen governance, has come as a welcome surprise to institutional investors in the company.
Three days after the World Bank decided to ban it for eight years, Satyam Computer Services today hit back and demanded an apology from the bank for "certain inappropriate statements" made by its representatives.
Foxnews.com on Tuesday reported that the World Bank ban started in September this year "due to alleged malpractice's including bribery". The news report said the World Bank debarment -- the harshest sanction ever made by the bank since 2004 -- was meted out for 'improper benefit to bank staff' and 'lack of documentation on invoices'.When contacted, a Satyam spokesperson said that "the company does not comment on individual clients".
Unlikely to launch formal probe into IT firm's Maytas move.
Satyam Computer Services did not consult Mendu Rammohan Rao, dean of the Indian School of Business and an independent director on the board of India's fourth largest IT services provider, when it called off the deal to acquire Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties following shareholder protests. Rao had chaired the board meeting that endorsed the company's proposal to buy the two firms linked to the family of Satyam's founder and chairman B Ramalinga Raju.
Companies dissatisfied with 'intent and focus' of tech major.
IT major Satyam Computer Services Ltd on Wednesday said it will implement an infrastructure lifecycle management solution for the Dubai Municipality engineering departments with a view to address its administrative and technical problems.
Satyam Computer Services said it continued to support its long-standing partnership with IBM for lotus enterprise solutions.
'But I would not like to write it myself. I don't think it will be right.'
IT services provider Satyam Computer Services Limited is setting up a 15-acre campus at Cyber Jaya, the IT hub of Malaysia, which is expected to be operational by this year end, said Prasenjit Kundu, head (global solutions centre in Malaysia), Satyam.
Satyam Computer Services Ltd said on Monday it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Denmark-based NNIT, a leading consultancy firm in IT operations.
'We wrote to the bank a few weeks ago. We don't expect an immediate response as these things take time but we disagree with the claims they've made,' Australian IT quoted Tech Mahindra executive vice-chairman Vineet Nayyar as saying in Sydney. Satyam was blacklisted last September and a month later was forced to deny reports that its contractors had installed spy software on World Bank computers.
As the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext and NSE are affiliated entities, upon listing on Euronext, it would establish its association with all three exchanges under one group, strengthening its presence in these three important markets, Satyam said in a communique to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
With prominent Indian IT companies such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, Infosys Technologies, Zensar Technologies and Satyam Computer Services increasing their presence in Japan, the world's second largest IT services market is becoming a lucrative market for India.
National Australia Bank is one of the key customers Tech Mahindra executive vice-chairman Vineet Nayyar will be meeting next week. Nayyar will be in town to spread Satyam's new identity after it was renamed Mahindra Satyam, and try to regain its standing with the NAB and clients such as Qantas and Suncorp. Satyam continues to provide application development and IT maintenance services to the NAB.
This strategic move paves the way for the emergence of a robust brand, which draws from the core values of the Mahindra Group and the inherent strength of the Satyam brand. The logo will be adopted from the Mahindra Group, an official press note of the company said.
Some employees have alleged that close to 20 employees of the troubled Satyam Computer Services have been promoted to the I-1 and I-2 bands (representing assistant vice-president and vice-president levels) and also received a salary hike of 20-40 per cent. The timing has caused much resentment with some employees taking up the matter with the human resources department.
Indian IT majors like Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Satyam Computer Services -- which have running multi-million dollar deals with General Motors that has filed for bankruptcy -- are likely to face a short-term impact since any loss of business in these slowing economic conditions is a setback.
Earlier this month, the corporate affairs ministry had written to various ministries including telecom, railways and steel seeking directions for public sector units under their administrative control for exempting Satyam from submitting audited balance sheets while bidding for projects of the state-owned firms.
A slowdown in the global economy and sub-prime crisis in the banking, financial and insurance services sector, its major revenue earners, force the domestic IT industry to take a relook at its hiring strategy.
Tata Consultancy Services topped the list of top 10 best performing IT service providers worldwide rated by Global Services, a specialised publication for IT businesses.
Sources said that the new management made a formal announcement before senior management personnel on Thursday on the issue of reducing manpower by up to 14,000 people.
Chrysler and General Motors each annually outsource $200-300 million (around Rs 10-15 billion) worth of projects to different vendors, which may be hit by 20-25 per cent, says Avinash Vashistha, chairman and CEO, Tholons, a research and advisory firm. While Chrysler has filed for bankruptcy, there is talk that GM may follow suit.
The jury members included Ashish Dhawan, senior managing director, ChrysCapital, Keki Dadiseth, managing director, Omnicom, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon, Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman and managing director, Aditya Birla Group and S Ramadorai, chief executive, TCS.
While the deal at the bid price of Rs 58 per share may bring some cheer to Satyam's shareholders as it brings to end a host of uncertainties, Tech Mahindra has a tough task on its hands, given that Satyam's revenues and client-base is diminishing slowly.
They will take stock of the current situation and discuss the way forward. Handing over the share allotment documents to Tech Mahindra is also on the agenda of Monday's board meet, according to a Satyam spokesperson. Tech Mahindra Vice-Chairman, MD & CEO Vineet Nayyar, C P Gurnani, president (international operations), and President (strategic initiatives) Sanjay Kalra have confirmed their participation in the meet.
The Company Law Board on Thursday completed the formality of approving the induction of Venturbay, a subsidiary of Tech Mahindra, as the strategic investor to acquire a 31 per cent stake in Satyam Computer Services and asked it to deposit Rs 1,756 crore for the deal by April 21 in a designated account.