New Delhi, Jan 07: The country's second largest software exporter, Infosys, today ruled out the possibility of buying Satyam saying the IT major"will not touch any tainted company".
"We have no such interest in looking at buying Satyam...
absolutely not... We will not touch any such tainted company
thats very, very clear," Infosys Founder and Chief Mentor
Narayan Murthy said in an interview to a private television
channel.
He said that the Satyam incident will not have an
backlash on the Indian IT sector.
"Every company, certainly large companies, theyhave very
close relationship with customers. The CEOs and senior
management of the Indian industry have a close relationship
with the senior management of the customer companies...
"We have a lot of transactions where we have demonstrated
class, quality and integrity, so I don't think all of that
will be destroyed just because of one bad apple, because there
is one Satyam," the non-executive chairman of the company
added.
Talking about the course of action following the Satyam
fiasco, Murthy said the need of this hour for the regulators
is toact decisively.
Engineering and construction major
Larsen & Toubro also said it is not looking at taking over
Satyam.
"We have no interest in taking over Satyam," an L&T
spokesperson told agencies here.
L&T has just four per cent stake in Satyam through L&T
Capital, the investment outfit of the group.
"Our stake in the software company is only a portfolio
investment," he said, adding that this should not be dubbed as
a strategic buy.
Reactions: FICCI
Said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry: "Satyam was always seen as one of the top Indian IT companies and often represented as shining example of Indian liberalisation and entrepreneurship. This fraud on the investors and employees of the company shows a systemic breakdown in audit and board oversight of the company."
Nasscom shocked
Nasscom, the apex body of the IT-BPO industry in India, also expressed shock, saying: "While the law will take its course, this incident is particularly unfortunate as the Indian IT-BPO industry had set very high standards of ethics and corporate governance."
According to Kapil Dev Singh, country manager of IDC India, leading provider of advisory services for IT sector, "The term 'business ethics' has never been so badly abused in India as this incident".
"It will make every stakeholder - investor, customer and employee - demand inviolable corporate governance policies and even more stringent enforcement mechanism," Singh said.
ICAI for severe punishment for auditors
The apex body of Chartered Accountants ICAI today said any member of the body found guilty in the Satyam financial wrong doings would be severely punished and the auditors could even be barred from practising, for the lifetime.
"We will ensure that to any person who has not worked according to our standards and our expectations, severe punishment be given," ICAI President Ved Jain said after the financial wrong doings by India's fourth largest IT company were unearthed.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, January 08, 2009, 00:00