Is it business as usual at Satyam?

In his first overseas trip to reinforce Satyam's commitment, Satyam Computer Services' newly appointed Chief Executive Officer A.S. Murty today assured Singapore that "It's business as usual at Satyam".

Murty's trip underscored the company's ongoing commitment to Singapore, headquarters for its "Rest of the World" (RoW) operations, which include Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, India and Africa. The visit was also aimed at restoring stakeholders' confidence and ensuring business continuity in the republic where its business remains strong.

Murty also used his two-day visit to address key considerations about Satyam's operational and financial aspects. Since 2000, Singapore has been an integral part of the leading global consulting and information technology services provider's global growth strategy.

"Satyam's foundation in Singapore and the RoW region is still quite strong," Murty said. "Our customer base remains intact and all of our clients have chosen to stand by us during these challenging times. And, since the beginning of 2009, we have seen a record level of new contracts in the region, which shows the confidence our customers and the industry continue to have in us."

Assuring that Satyam has a promising future, Murty said the new Board represents some of the best management talent available and employee morale continues to be high.

"My immediate priority as CEO is to initiate and cultivate additional measures that will continue to stabilize Satyam and benefit all its stakeholders," Murty said. "Singapore plays a key role in those stabilization efforts, because it is the nerve centre of our efforts to grow our business in this critical region."

CXOtoday

World Bank says eight-year ban on Satyam can be reviewed !

Giving some hope to crisis-ridden Satyam, the World Bank has said it could review the eight-year ban imposed on the company provided the software exporter takes "corrective action".

A World Bank official said Satyam has to show it has again become a responsible vendor to do business with, when asked whether the multilateral lending agency would relax the ban on the software exporter.

"The vendor would have to demonstrate (that) corrective action had been taken to address the original causes of the ... ineligibility," a World Bank official from Washington said in an emailed statement.

The official further said action should substantiate that Satyam is "again a responsible vendor with whom the Bank can do business".

The World Bank banned Satyam Computer Services for eight years in 2008 for providing "improper benefits" to Bank staff and for failing to maintain records relating to fees charged for sub-contractors.

Satyam has a strong case for a review of the ban since its old board and management have been changed after its disgraced founder Chairman B Ramalinga Raju admitted to fudging accounts to the tune of Rs 7,800 crore.

Agencies

Did Satyam turn small software cos into bn dollar industry?

Though blamed for tainting the image of the Indian IT sector now, Satyam Computer Services was indeed the first IT firm in the country to use communication technologies to turn pygmy software companies into a billion-dollar industry.

In his latest book 'Transcending Boundaries', author Deepak Chopra said that Satyam was one of the pioneers in using satellite-based data communication, which enabled the Indian software industry to take a quantum jump in the 1990s.

Satyam, which came under the scanner after its founder B Ramalinga Raju confessed to cooking the company's account books for years, was the first Indian software company to use dedicated satellite links in 1992.

In the 1990s, IT firms suffered due to lack of high-speed data links.

"A Hyderabad-based startup, Satyam Computer Services, which had signed up its first major offshore customer in June 1991, applied to VSNL for a dedicated satellite link in August that year," the book said.

Using this link, Satyam wanted to execute a re- engineering contract, worth one million dollars, for John Deere Corporation by remotely working on Deere's IBM mainframes located in Chicago.

Following this, many other IT firms started using the dedicated satellite links.

Agencies