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Still verifying legitimacy, accuracy of Raju\'s mail: SatyamRam Mynampati, Interim CEO, Satya, said, he realises that several questions have been raised on his role as CEO, but his only aim is to ensure that business continues uninterrupted and challenges are minimised or neutralized. The CEO said they are currently trying to establish the veracity of statements in Ramalinga Raju\'s letter.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Jan 2009 | 5:35 pm Two US law firms file class action against SatyamTwo class action lawsuits have been filed against Satyam. One is by law firm Izard Noble and the other is by Vianale Vianale. Even if these class action lawsuits are successful, the question is that they may not be easily implementable in India.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Jan 2009 | 3:56 pm Govt may put nominee on Saytam\'s restructured boardThere are reports that the government might put a nominee on the restructured board of Satyam. Corporate Affairs Minister PC Gupta said the government is exploring all options including putting some government nominees on the board of Satyam. This is something which is not finalised.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Jan 2009 | 3:48 pm Looking at govt nominees on Satyam board: PC GuptaPC Gupta, Minister of Corporate Affairs said they are looking at all options including even the government nominees on Satyam board. Meanwhile, PMO has asked for details on Satyam mess. Gupta said the ministry ahs also ICAI to take strict action on Satyam auditors. According to Gupta, Andhra Pradesh police has filed a case against Raju.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Jan 2009 | 3:28 pm Satyam fraud a wake up call to Indian cos: Nadan NilekaniNandan Nilekani, Chairman of Infosys expect investors to now go through company accounts with a fine tooth comb. Its a wakeup call for the way we run companies in India and we believe that this hopefully will galvanise all the people in the corporate ecosystem to aspire to make sure there are no more incidents of this kind.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Jan 2009 | 2:43 pm Satyam\'s audit records will be summoned: SourcesSatyam books are likely to be impounded for inspection, and all audit records of Satyam will be summoned, reports CNBCTV18, quoting sources. According to the sources, the siphoning of funds is suspected over the past six months.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Jan 2009 | 2:08 pm We will not touch tainted co like Satyam: Narayana MurthyNarayana Murthy of Infosys said it is important for the Indian regulatory agencies to get to the bottom of this (Satyam scam), to make a thorough investigation and take a swift and decisive action to bring the guilty to books. However, he said, We have no interest in buying such a tainted company like Satyam.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Jan 2009 | 1:43 pm Satyam directors, employees shockedDirectors of the beleaguered IT major Satyam Computers Wednesday expressed shock the admission of founderchairman B. Ramalinga Raju to committing a fraud to the tune of Rs.40 billion (Rupeess.4,000 crore or $823 mln) before he resigned, along with Managing Director Rama Raju.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Jan 2009 | 1:32 pm Beleaguered Satyam forms crack team for firefightingBattered IT bellwether Satyam Computer Services Ltd on Wednesday formed a crack team to run the daytoday operations of the beleaguered company following the dramatic resignation of its founderchairman and managing director from the boardSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Jan 2009 | 1:25 pm Bleak future: What next for Satyam?Its being described as Enron part two. Satyams Rs 5,000crore fraud has shaken corporate India, deeply denting Indias image in the global market and eroding the credibility of the IT industry which sells on good corporate governanceSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 8 Jan 2009 | 1:19 pm Satyam scandal highlights emerging mkt risks!A vast accounting scandal at Satyam Computer Services may increase investor nervousness about weak corporate governance and oversight in Invest for long term Golden rules for investors in emerging markets.Source: Zee News : Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:58 pm What`s next for Ramalinga Raju?!Even as a stunned Indian Inc and rattled investors try to come to terms with the biggest Indian corporate fraud worth Rs 7000 crore, Satyam`s founder B Ramalinga Raju faces jail term in India and the US on multiple accounts.Source: Zee News : Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:58 pm General Motors Corp may not need additional loans to survive: Report!General Motors Corp has adequate funds from government loans to cover the worst-case scenario it described in December and won`t need additional help unless the economy deteriorates further, it was reported on Wednesday.Source: Zee News : Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:58 pm Satyam heads towards disaster with Rs 8,000 cr fraud!Satyam was hurtling towards disaster leaving an uncertain future for the company and its 53,000 employees.Source: Zee News : Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:58 pm Indian tractor industry to see flat growth this year!The Indian tractor industry in 2008-09 is unlikely to register growth and sales are likely to be at three lakh tractors, same as what was achieved in 2007-08, a top industry official said here on Thursday.Source: Zee News : Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:58 pm Satyam ADRs plunge 84% on NYSE !Beleaguered Indian IT firm Satyam Computer Services on Wednesday plunged nearly 84 per cent in the pre-market trading on the US bourses after the disclosure of fudging of accounts by Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju.Source: Zee News : Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:58 pm Intel warns again on Q4; shares fall !Microchip maker Intel Corp issued its second revenue warning on the fourth quarter since November, as demand for personal computers weakens worldwide, and its shares fell 3.25 percent.Source: Zee News : Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:58 pm Oil steady below $43 after plunging on US report!Oil prices were steady below USD 43 a barrel on Thursday in Asia after a higher-than-expected increase in US inventories sparked a 12 percent plunge in crude overnight.Source: Zee News : Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:58 pm Russia, Ukraine hold gas row talks in MoscowMoscow: The two top gas executives from Russia and Ukraine held talks in Moscow on Thursday, in the first face-to-face contact since their row choked off supplies to EU countries in bitter winter weather. There was no immediate word on the outcome of the talks, but further urgent diplomacy was planned in Brussels where delegations from Kiev and Moscow were to meet officials from a European Union increasingly concerned at the gas cut-offs. “We need to resume the gas flows in Europe. We can’t be blackmailed,” Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra, whose country holds the EU presidency, said in Prague. Russia’s state-controlled gas export monopoly Gazprom fully suspended supplies of transit gas towards Ukraine on Wednesday, saying there was no longer any point delivering the gas because Kiev had shut down the pipelines. Ukraine - whose pro-Western leaders have clashed with the Kremlin over their drive to join NATO - said Russia was deliberately starving Europe of gas. Russia cut off gas for Ukraine’s domestic consumption on New Year’s Day. The row over gas prices and debts owed by Ukraine to Russia hit supplies as far west as France and Germany as Europe faced freezing mid-winter temperatures. In Bulgaria, one of the worst affected countries, at least 45,000 households were without central heating on Wednesday. Schools were shut and some companies were closed. Temperatures in Sofia fell to minus 14 degrees Celsius overnight. Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller and Oleh Dubyna, head of Ukrainian state energy firm Naftogaz, met overnight in Moscow, a Gazprom official told Reuters. The official declined to give any details. Miller and Dubyna were expected to meet again in Brussels on Thursday when they hold talks with European Energy Commission Andris Piebalgs and Czech Trade and Industry Minister Martin Riman, representing the Czech EU presidency. Gazprom said Miller would meet European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso. Against a backdrop of mounting pressure from European countries on both Kiev and Moscow to get gas flowing again, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev spoke by telephone late on Wednesday with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. Medvedev told his Ukrainian counterpart gas supplies had become hostage to squabbling in the Kiev leadership and that Moscow would only resume pumping gas for Ukraine’s own use if Kiev agreed to pay a market price for the fuel. Energy dependence Gazprom said it was increasing supplies to the European Union and Turkey via other routes. Despite those measures, the dispute cut Russia’s supplies to Europe - which depends on Moscow for a quarter of its gas supplies - by half. The reduction in supplies has been sharper and more prolonged than a similar disruption in January 2006. Production at three Turkish power stations was halted, an energy minister source said on Thursday, though he said it would not create a power supply problem. The euro zone’s major economies have escaped significant economic repercussions, but France has reported a drop in supplies and an Italian industry ministry spokesman said Italy has begun tapping its stockpiles of natural gas. A total of 18 countries were experiencing supply disruptions. Most were drawing on alternative sources or using stockpiled gas, but with the row in its eighth day, those reserves were dwindling. Eastern and Central Europe have borne the brunt of the row. Bulgaria cut back or suspended supplies to industrial users and Slovakia declared a state of emergency after a complete halt in supplies from Russia. Czech and Slovak and Slovenian energy firms said on Thursday supplies from Russia through Ukraine were still at a standstill. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:41 pm Sebi team initiates Satyam probe in HyderabadA special team of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, headed by its Southern Region General Manager A Sunil Kumar, on Thursday began the investigation into the Satyam fraud.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:36 pm ISB dean Rao quits over Satyam fraudMendu Rammohan Rao, dean of the prestigious International School of Business (ISB) here, Thursday resigned from his position in the wake of the financial fraud at Satyam Computers. He was a member of the Satyam board when the irregularities were committed.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:31 pm Bombay Stock Exchange de-lists SatyamScam-tainted Satyam Computer has been de-listed by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) with effect from Jan 12, the BSE said in a statement Thursday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:31 pm BJP, CPI-M want strong action against Satyam culpritsThe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Thursday urged the government to take strong and immediate action against those behind the financial fraud at leading IT firm Satyam Computers.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:30 pm Italy's interior and design magazine comes to IndiaDesign, style, luxury and trends about interior décor will now be available at your fingertips as Italy's interior and design magazine Casaviva has forayed into the Indian market.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:30 pm Agitating truckers want thorough audit of oil companiesAccusing oil companies of committing a Satyam Computers-like financial fraud, striking truckers Thursday demanded 'thorough audit' of the oil firms and asked the government to issue a white paper on the matter.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:30 pm Satyam goes off Sensex, replaced by Sun PharmaMumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday said it will replace Satyam Computer with Sun Pharmaceutical in its benchmark index Sensex with effect from 12 January. Satyam would also be removed from various other indices like BSE-100, BSE 200, BSE-500 and BSE Teck and BSE IT index, the exchange said in a statement. “Trading members of the exchange are hereby informed that the replacements would be made with effect from 12 January,” the statement added. Further, GlaxoSmithkline Pharmaceuticals would replace Satyam in the BSE 100 index, while the IT firm would be replaced by Castrol India in the BSE 200 index. Meanwhile, Cadila Healthcare replaces Satyam Computer in the BSE-500 index. The statement by the exchange comes a day after the NSE said it would strike off Satyam from its benchmark index Nifty with effect from 12 January. The National Stock Exchange has removed the company from various other indices like the CNX 100, S&P CNX 500, CNX IT and the CNX Services sector index. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:28 pm Satyam goes off Sensex, replaced by Sun PharmaMumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday said it will replace Satyam Computer with Sun Pharmaceutical in its benchmark index Sensex with effect from 12 January. Satyam would also be removed from various other indices like BSE-100, BSE 200, BSE-500 and BSE Teck and BSE IT index, the exchange said in a statement. “Trading members of the exchange are hereby informed that the replacements would be made with effect from 12 January,” the statement added. Further, GlaxoSmithkline Pharmaceuticals would replace Satyam in the BSE 100 index, while the IT firm would be replaced by Castrol India in the BSE 200 index. Meanwhile, Cadila Healthcare replaces Satyam Computer in the BSE-500 index. The statement by the exchange comes a day after the NSE said it would strike off Satyam from its benchmark index Nifty with effect from 12 January. The National Stock Exchange has removed the company from various other indices like the CNX 100, S&P CNX 500, CNX IT and the CNX Services sector index. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:28 pm ICAI to serve showcause notice on PWC in a weekICAI will serve a showcause notice on PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in a week after collecting information from SEBI and Registrar of Companies.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:23 pm Talks with oil PSU execs fail; pumps going dry on low supplies - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:17 pm Satyam says hopeful of meeting January obligationsHYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - Satyam Computer Services is confident it can deal with obligations this month, but needs some assistance on liquidity, its interim CEO Ram Mynampati said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:16 pm Satyam Board shocked by disclosures: interim CEONew Delhi: Satyam interim CEO Ram Mynampati on Thursday said that the board was shocked by recent disclosures by former chairman and founder B Ramalinga Raju at a press conference in Hyderabad. In the company’s first media statement since Raju’s confessional resignation, Mynampati said they have now launched a process to assess their financial position following Raju’s revelations, but they did not ascertain the work of Pricewaterhouse Cooper as yet Justifying the board’s stand he explained that the members only relied on audited data provided to them. Putting up a brave face, the interim CEO of India’s No.4 software outsourcing firm said, “ We will do everything to protect careers and livelihoods of our almost over 50,000 staff.” The company also stated that that they have not seen any huge attrition. He went on to add that the company is capable of dealing with obligations for this month and has also drawn salaries for employees for the current month. “We have healthy receivables but we do need some assistance on liquidity,” he said. Mynampati said he received expressions of support from key customers. Also Satyam has individually spoken to its top 100 clients. He said the company recognizes full severity of the issues and stated that many regulatory bodies have started their work of investigation to whom the company has ensured full cooperation. Meanwhile, the company leaders are focusing on delivering their customer commitments to run business as usual and the board is confident that they can sustain smooth transition of company’s leadership. Mynampati said Satyam CFO Valdamani Srinivas has put in his papers which has not been accepted by the board. The board has not contacted Raju since his resignation on Wednesday, though the former chairman has assured he will be available to provide all kind of support. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:16 pm Naftogaz, Gazprom holding direct talks - Ukraine - Reuters
Source: Google News India - Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:15 pm Satyam CFO submits resignation, board yet to approveHYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - The chief financial officer of Satyam Computer Services has submitted his resignation, but the firm's board is yet to approve it, the company's interim CEO said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:13 pm BSE to drop Satyam from SensexNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Bombay Stock Exchange will replace Satyam Computer Services with drugmaker Sun Pharma in the benchmark share index, effective Jan. 12, the spokesman for the exchange said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:09 pm Sebi team initiates Satyam probe in HyderabadMumbai: A special team of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, headed by its Southern Region General Manager A Sunil Kumar, today began the investigation into the Satyam fraud at the IT firm’s headquarters in Hyderabad. The market regulator had ordered a probe into the financial fraud after the company’s Chairman, B Ramalinga Raju, disclosed that Satyam’s balance sheet was totally manipulated with inflated numbers. “They have initiated the investigation process. The team will look into the details of the issue,” a senior Sebi official told PTI here. The Sebi team is also believed to have visited the Hyderabad office of PriceWaterhouse-Coopers (PwC), the auditor of India’s fourth largest outsourcing firm, sources said. When contacted, a PwC spokesperson denied this saying “no Sebi member has visited any of our offices so far.” Meanwhile, some of the key clients of Satyam Computers are understood to be meeting in Hyderabad today to assess the current status of the troubled IT-major and to review their projects with the company. Shares of Satyam had slumped to a 10-year low yesterday following the developments in the company. Sebi Chairman C B Bhave had yesterday termed the developments at India’s fourth largest IT company as an event of “horrifying magnitude” and said the regulator would take all steps in the matter. The investigation, SEBI said, will ascertain whether any provision of the Act or regulation has been violated. “We are in touch with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs...we are also in discussion with them as to what steps need to be taken from the perspective of power they have under the law and SEBI has under the law,” Bhave said. Announcing the probe, the market watchdog had said that the investigation will go into the affairs relating to buying, selling or dealing in the shares of Satyam Computer Services and submit the report to the board at the earliest. The investigating authority has been armed with powers under various Sections of Sebi Act to carry out the probe, Sebi said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:09 pm Maytas Infra chairman resigns, cover-up fearedThe resignation of R.C. Sinha as the chairman of Maytas Infra, the infrastructure firm promoted by a son of fraud-tainted Satyam Computer chief B. Ramalinga Raju, is an attempt to cover up financial irregularities, company insiders say.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:01 pm Territorial Army deployed at Delhi airport for refuelling servicesTerritorial Army (TA) personnel have been deployed at the Delhi airport to ensure smooth flight operations in the wake of the nationwide strike by public sector oil company employees, an airport official said Thursday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:01 pm Star Alliance Common IT Platform attracts more inventory migrationsThe Star Alliance Common IT Platform (CITP) has taken a significant step forward with the successful migration of additional member carriers to the new inventory platform, it was announced Thursday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:00 pm Indian government to launch Rs.1,000-bn infrastructure projectsFollowing the announcement of two stimulus packages, the Indian government is all set to kickstart massive infrastructure projects worth Rs.1,000 billion (Rs.1 lakh crore/$20 bn), Minister of State for Industry Ashwani Kumar said here Thursday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:00 pm Sebi team reaches Satyam complex and PwC office in H'bad - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:00 pm Talks with oil PSU executives failNew Delhi: Fuel supplies in many parts of the country were affected on the second day of the indefinite strike by oil PSU executives that also resulted in refineries running below capacity and impacted oil and gas production. Talks with Oil Sector Officers Association, the umbrella body of 14 state-run companies, failed today even as reports from several parts of the country said petrol pumps were running dry and aviation refuelling operations were getting delayed because of the absence of officers. In the national capital, about 40 per cent of the petrol pumps owned by Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum went out of stocks, but those of Hindustan Petroleum were operating normally as the company is not part of the agitation. “We have been managing the situation till now, but there are supply constraints,” IOC Chairman Sarthak Behuria said. “If the strike continues, we may also see dry-outs from tomorrow.” There were reports of long queues at petrol pumps and delays in delivery of domestic LPG cylinders. “The petrol pumps are running low on inventory in anticipation of a petrol and diesel price cut,” he said, adding senior management personnel have been deployed at airports to refuel airplanes. The Government, however, maintained that the situation was still manageable. “Some shortages can be there but the situation is under control,” said Additional Secretary in the Petroleum Ministry S Sunderasan. OSOA President Amit Kumar, surfacing after two days of hiding, held talks with company management on their demands for higher wages. But the talks, the first OSOA attended in a week’s time, failed as the union kept harping that the Government accept their demands, Behuria said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 11:59 am Satyam interim CEO: recognises severity of issuesHYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - Embattled Satyam Computer Services is speaking to its top 100 clients individually, and has received expressions of support from key customers, its interim CEO said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 11:58 am Fuel supplies hit in Uttar Pradesh as 2,000 officers join strikeNearly 2,000 oil sector employees struck work in Uttar Pradesh Thursday, the second day of the nationwide strike called by officers of public sector oil companies.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 8 Jan 2009 | 11:31 am As scandal rocks Satyam, rivals may pick off clientsNEW DELHI (Reuters) - A $1 billion fraud at Satyam Computer Services may have put the Indian outsourcing firm's future in doubt, but could be a boost in troubled times for local and global rivals if they can lure away worried clients.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 11:27 am Satyam's audit records will be summoned: Sources - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 11:25 am Two US law firms file class action against Satyam - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 11:22 am Q+A - How did Satyam pull off India's biggest corporate fraud?Reuters - The government vowed to strengthen laws to prevent corporate fraud after Satyam Computer, the country's fourth-largest software company, shocked investors by revealing profits had been falsely inflated for years.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 11:19 am Govt vows to end fraud as Satyam scandal shocksHYDERABAD (Reuters) - The government vowed to strengthen laws to prevent corporate fraud after Satyam Computer, the country's fourth-largest software company, shocked investors by revealing profits had been falsely inflated for years.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 11:14 am Govt could have probed Satyam affairs earlier: IT-BPO unionBy PTI New Delhi: Satyam incident did not come as a bolt from the blue for the Bangalore-based IT-BPO union, who had written to the IT industry body Nasscom, the Prime Minister, IT minister and Ramalinga Raju himself to conduct an inquiry into the affairs of the company in 2008. “Immediately after we heard that the World Bank was planning to ban Satyam in 2008, we had written to everyone -- the Prime Minister, Nasscom, the IT Minister and to the then chairman Raju to conduct an inquiry into the matter,” UNITES Professionals general secretary Kartick Shekhar told PTI. He further said had the government investigated the World Bank allegations, discrepancies in Satyam would have surfaced earlier, he added. “UNITES would like NASSCOM to urgently institute an inquiry with the cooperation of the Government of India, Department of Technology and with the cooperation of the World Bank, immediately and get the actual findings,” UNITES had earlier said on its website. However, when contacted, Nasscom had denied receiving any such communication from any union. Nasscom President Som Mittal had said that it was a company-level matter and the industry body had no right to inquire into it. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 11:06 am Satyam scam: The legal perspective - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 11:04 am Sun Pharma rejects Taro’s offer of $15 per shareNew Delhi: Sun Pharmaceutical has rejected Israeli firm Taro Pharmaceutical’s proposal to increase the offer price of its shares to $15 a piece for their failed merger saying the overseas firm was not worth so much. “Taro Board knows that its proposal of $15 per share is way beyond what the company is worth with no audit numbers for three years and with prior year restated numbers to be further restated,” Sun Pharma Chairman and Managing Director Dilip Shanghvi wrote in a letter written to Taro Chairman Barrie Levitt. Sanghvi was responding to a letter by Levitt, who had asked Sun to pay $15 per share, while rebuffing Sun’s sweetened offer of $9.5 per share, against the initial offer of $7.75 a piece. “The fact that the board sent such proposal knowing that Sun Pharma can never agree to it, is further confirmation that the Taro Directors are only rubber-stamping outrageous proposals that are convenient solely to Levitt and Moros family, but do not have any concern for the minority shareholders,” Sanghvi said in the letter. Accusing Taro of delaying the transaction, Sanghvi said in the last 30 days Sun Pharma has not received even a single worthwhile proposal from the Israel-based firm for this purpose. Sun had rejected Taro’s offer of conducting a shareholder referendum at any price of its (Sun’s) choosing to settle the issue, besides offering other options, saying it was an attempt to sidestep from the real issues. Prior to that, Shanghvi had already sent two letters to Taro shareholders and its audit committee chairman. In these letters Sun proposed to increase the offer price to $9.5 per share, from $7.75 per share it had offered earlier. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 11:04 am Govt vows to end fraud as Satyam scandal shocksHyderabad / New Delhi: India vowed to strengthen laws to prevent corporate fraud after Satyam Computer, the country’s fourth-largest software company, shocked investors by revealing profits had been falsely inflated for years. Chairman Ramalinga Raju resigned on Wednesday after revealing India’s biggest corporate scandal in memory, sending the company’s shares plunging nearly 80%. Corporate affairs minister, Prem Chand Gupta, on Thursday said the government will take the strictest possible action in a coordinated manner to deal with the situation. Also Read Satyam Full Coverage “I had a meeting with the senior officials from the ministry of finance, Sebi, the ministry of law and justice and the ministry of information and technology. We had a joint meeting and we are taking coordinated action in a very firm manner and there would be no laxity on anybody’s part,” he said. Noting that the market regulator Sebi and the Registrar of Companies (RoC) are already on the job, the minister said, “as far as the auditors are concerned we have asked ICAI to take strictest possible action against the erring auditors.” The scandal has cast a cloud over foreign investment in Asia’s third-largest economy and over its once-booming outsourcing sector, which posted stunning sales growth for years and lavished investors with handsome returns. It may also increase investor nervousness about weak corporate governance and oversight in emerging markets, which are still reeling from the global financial crisis.  Media persons stand outside the headquarters of Satyam Computer in Hyderabad on January 08, 2009. Reuters photo In a bid to shore up investor confidence, a company statement said that other senior executives, including interim chief executive Ram Mynampati, had committed to stay with the firm. The new company chief was expected to hold a news conference at 5 pm (1130 GMT) on Thursday. Stocks in India did not trade on Thursday due to a public holiday. Bombay’s benchmark stock index tumbled more than 7% on Wednesday and the rupee fell after the Satyam bombshell, which some analysts dubbed ”India’s Enron” after the collapsed US energy firm. The New York Stock Exchange halted trading in Satyam’s shares indefinitely, saying it wanted to review the news. Some investors in Satyam’s American Depositary Receipts have already filed class action suits against the firm, lawyers said. Customers Worried Since opening its economy to the world in the early 1990s, India has seen a proliferation of new companies. Strong economic growth has attracted foreign investors, and analysts say existing laws are inadequate to deal with the surge in corporate activity. “The type of incident that happened in Satyam does not mean our entire corporate sector is like that. We need to see this type of incident does not happen again,” Gupta said. In a resignation letter that stunned India’s business world, Raju said about $1 billion, or 94% of the cash and bank balances on the company’s books at end-September did not exist. Raju, who founded the company in 1987, said no other board member was aware of the irregularities at Satyam, which in Sanskrit means ”truth.” Customers have flooded the company with calls since news of the scandal broke, a senior Satyam official said on Thursday. “Of course they are concerned. I am getting so many calls,” the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. “We are...telling them it is business as usual.” Satyam could go out of business if big clients pull out and there is little chance of it being bought by another company given the scandal and losses from potential law suits, ABN Amro said in a research note, adding the firm’s cash position was “precarious”. Satyam specialises in business software and back-office services for clients such as General Electric and Nestle. Speculation that the troubled company may be looking for a buyer grew last month after it asked Merrill Lynch’s Indian business to examine its strategic options. Merrill said on Wednesday it had terminated that advisory deal, adding it had found material accounting irregularities. Raju, 54, came under close scrutiny last month after the company’s botched attempt to buy two construction companies partly owned by its founders, which Raju said on Wednesday was a final attempt to resolve the problem of the fictitious assets. “It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten,” Raju said in his letter. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 11:04 am Maytas Infra also fudged booksMumbai: Satyam Computer is not the only Ramalinga Raju family’s promoted company that fudged books, but Maytas Infrastructure also seems to have misrepresented its financials. The Maytas Infra understated its profit in April-June quarter and the discrepancies were “duly accounted for” in the company’s books later. While the role of auditors in Satyam fiasco is questionable as of now, it was statutory auditors of Maytas Infra who pointed out the under-statement in its books. “The statutory auditors of the company in their limited review report for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, qualified that the company made under-provision for service tax liability and excess provision for deferred tax liability, resulting in a net understatement of profit after tax by Rs1.60 million for the quarter,” Maytas Infra’s vice chairman B Teja Raju said in the “notes” attached to its quarterly results filed with the Bombay Stock Exchange. “The said liabilities have been duly accounted for in the books of account in the current reporting period (quarter ended September 30, 2008), added Teja Raju, who is a son of Satyam’s founder B Ramalinga Raju. Ramalinga Raju on Wednesday announced his resignation as Satyam chairman after disclosing financial irregularities to the tune of close to Rs7,800 crore at the company over a period of 7 years in a development that has emerged as the biggest ever corporate fraud in India. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:55 am FIFA 'closely monitoring' World Cup sponsor SatyamWorld football body FIFA, one of the most coveted clients of the beleaguered Satyam Computer, on Thursday said it was closely monitoring the developments.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:55 am Dabur Honey ropes in Winnie the PoohNew Delhi, Jan 8 (PTI) FMCG firm Dabur India has roped in Disney’s Winnie the Pooh to feature on its Dabur Honey’s ‘eazee squeezee´ pack. “Dabur Honey will be one of the very few products in India to be associated with such a popular Disney character at this scale,” Dabur India Executive Vice President (Marketing - Healthcare) K K Rajesh said in a statement. Dabur India, which has more than 75% share in the honey market, has partnered with Disney Consumer Products (DCP) to jointly promote the ‘eazee squeezee´ pack, which is priced at Rs120 for a 400 gm pack. Winnie the Pooh is a Walt Disney Company franchise and is based on animated fictional characters, who have been featured as part of the Disney character line-up. Winnie the Pooh franchise is based on the book by A A Milne. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:53 am Satyam scandal rattles confidence in accounting Big FourHONG KONG (Reuters) - A $1 billion fraud at outsourcing firm Satyam Computer Services, dubbed "India's Enron", has shaken investor confidence in the world's Big Four accounting firms, which have expanded rapidly in Asia despite a general shortage of qualified accountants.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:51 am New Delhi approves M&M-BAE joint venture - IT Examiner
Source: Google News India - Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:51 am Time Warner expects $25B charge, loss for yearNew York: Media company Time Warner Inc. said on Wednesday that it expects a fourth-quarter charge of $25 billion to write down the value of its cable, publishing and AOL assets, leading to a loss for the year. New York-based Time Warner said its results, particularly for its AOL and publishing unit’s advertising operations, have been pressured by economic conditions that are more difficult than it initially anticipated. Time Warner’s cable television arm Time Warner Cable Inc. will account for $15 billion of the charge, with the remaining $10 billion related to its publishing and AOL divisions, spokesman Edward Adler said, declining to give further specifics. Because the charge was a noncash item that will not have adverse tax implications, Chief Financial Officer John Martin shrugged it off. “It’s a noncash book writedown. We don’t see any adverse impacts to the business at all,” Martin said Wednesday in comments broadcast live on the Internet from an analysts conference in Phoenix. “It’s noncash and we move on.” The charge will lead to an operating loss for the fourth quarter. Time Warner also anticipates a full-year loss, down from a prior outlook for a profit between $1.04 and $1.07 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predict 2008 earnings of $1.08 per share. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude one-time items. Time Warner’s stock dropped 69 cents, or 6.3%, to close at $10.29. The shares have ranged from $7 to $16.90 over the past year. Time Warner Inc. also said it anticipated a charge of about $280 million related to a December judgment against Turner Broadcasting System for the 2004 sale of the Atlanta Thrashers hockey and Atlanta Hawks basketball teams and a $50 million to $60 million charge for a lease restructuring for space at New York’s Time & Life Building held by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which filed for bankruptcy protection in September. Time Warner, which also owns the CNN cable network and the Warner Bros. film studio, said it feels there are “strong grounds” to have the verdict in the Turner Broadcasting case set aside by the trial court or overturned during an appeal. The company also expects it will boost reserves by about $40 million for possible credit losses related to some customers that have declared bankruptcy. Those customers include Circuit City Stores Inc. and Woolworths in the U.K., among others, Adler said. Time Warner Cable noted that its stock price tumbled during the second half of 2008, which indicates a “significant decrease in the value of its cable franchise rights.” The company’s stock is off 30% from its 52-week high of $31.56 set last May. It also foresees an approximately $350 million impairment charge on its investment in wireless broadband provider Clearwire Corp. Intel Corp. also said Wednesday that it needs to absorb a charge for the deterioration of the value of Clearwire investment. Aside from its cable business, Time Warner Inc.’s publishing unit has had to contend with a dismal advertising environment, while its AOL division continues to be a headache. Meanwhile, AOL has unsuccessfully attempted to shift from its roots as an Internet access provider to an advertising-focused company. In November, AOL reported a 6 percent drop in third-quarter online ad revenue, while chief rivals like Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. saw gains. Time Warner has been working to split AOL’s access and advertising businesses operationally, a move that would make it easier to sell off one or both. It has engaged in talks with Yahoo Inc., Microsoft and Earthlink Inc. about potential AOL acquisitions. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:39 am EU data confirms eurozone’s first recession in Q3Brussels: The eurozone economy entered its first official recession in the third quarter, EU data confirmed in a third reading on Thursday. Facing the worst financial crisis in generations, the bloc’s combined economy shrank by 0.2% in the third quarter after contracting by the same amount in the second quarter, the Eurostat data agency said. The slump marks the first recession, which economists usually define as two quarters running of contraction, that the bloc has suffered since it was formed in 1999. The 27-nation European Union escaped recession by a narrow margin with the economy shrinking 0.2% in the third quarter and flat-lining in the second quarter. On a 12-month basis, eurozone growth slowed in the third quarter to 0.6% from 1.4% in the previous quarter while EU growth fell to 0.8% Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:35 am Economic crisis rears its head, Asia stocks drop - Livemint
Source: Google News India - Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:33 am Satyam scandal rattles confidence in accounting Big FourBy Reuters Hong Kong: A $1 billion fraud at outsourcing firm Satyam Computer Services, dubbed “India’s Enron”, has shaken investor confidence in the world’s big four accounting firms, which have expanded rapidly in Asia despite a general shortage of qualified accountants. Ramalinga Raju, founder and chairman of India’s fourth-biggest software services exporter, resigned on Wednesday saying profits were falsely inflated for years. “This is shocking. I can’t even let my thoughts go in the direction that there is another Satyam somewhere,” said Shailesh Haribhakti, executive chairman of BDO Haribhakti, a consulting and management services firm based in Mumbai. “I have very high respect for PricewaterhouseCoopers who are their auditors, but it’s incredible that such gross things existed and were not discovered,” he said. PwC said it was examining Raju’s five-page resignation letter and declined further comment, though one insider said the accountant was as shocked as anyone at the admission of years of financial deception at Satyam. PwC staff in Asia said they had received internal emails on Thursday telling them not to discuss Satyam publicly. “We are also shocked by the Satyam news and many of our colleagues and managers describe it as India’s Enron, so you can imagine how big the impact will be to us,” one PwC employee told Reuters on condition of anonymity. PwC accelerated its Asia expansion in 2002 when it took over offices and staff from Arthur Andersen, which was auditor for Enron and once one of the “Big Five” global accounting firms, along with PwC, Ernst & Young, Deloitte & Touche and KPMG. TALENT SHORTAGE Like its three big rivals, PwC has grown rapidly across Asia, particularly in China and India, recruiting thousands amid fierce competition for talent. Frank Lyn, PwC’s Beijing-based China Markets Leader, told Reuters in November that a shortage of talent was the firm’s top challenge in China. It can take three to five years to groom a fresh graduate at a major firm like PwC to the level of senior associate, who can meet clients directly for accounting services. But firms in busy markets have sometimes fast-tracked new hires in services that can be beyond their professional level. Sharmila Gopinath, research director at the Asian Corporate Governance Association in Hong Kong, said accounting firms face a lack of qualified people at all levels in Asia. “Sometimes people, especially at the top, find themselves stretched at certain levels, especially when it comes to supervision of work,” she said. “While the Big Four work in places like India, China and Malaysia within the local context, they have a global standard which they must adhere to. Yet, the local rules can be vastly different and time-consuming to comply with,” she added. DOUBLE-CHECK David Legg, managing director at Gerson Lehrman, a consulting firm specialising in private equity investments, said the Satyam case was a warning that investors should not rely exclusively on financial due diligence by accountants for deal-making decisions. Gerson Lehrman says it provides “double-check” and in-depth research services for many private equity investors who also hire the Big Four for regular due diligence. When markets turn bad and corporate frauds are more easily exposed, private equity firms like Blackstone and Carlyle seek additional channels to verify their investment portfolio or deal targets, Legg noted. “For clients engaged in higher risk activity, we put in experienced staff. If we don’t have experts at home, we have a system in which we have support and back-up from overseas offices of KPMG,” said Park Young Jin, Risk Management Partner of KPMG Samjong Accounting Corp in Seoul. “If we are unable to make or handle a normal audit because of high auditing risks, we stress our principle of rejecting such auditing work, or expressing ‘no comment´,” he added. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:30 am Private participation in road development programmeChennai: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said his government would encourage private sector participation especially in the road development programme through additional incentives and facilities. “We will encourage private sector participation in the road development programme through additional incentives and facilities”, he said while laying the foundation stone for India’s longest elevated corridor connecting Chennai Port and Maduravoyal junction here. “Substantial private sector investment will not only free government resources of other needs such as education and health but also promote technological upgradation and the capacity to manage and maintain high quality road network”, he said. He said his government had taken a policy decision that all future projects under National Highway Development Programme would be offered in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Indian industries should take pride in the roads they built and maintain and adopt highest standards of quality, he said. The total length of the four-lane corridor, being taken up by the National Highways Authority of India at a cost of Rs 1,655 crore, would be 19 km and would be the longest one in the country, an official brochure of the project, circulated to the media, said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:26 am Asia Naphtha-Reliance sells rare smaller-size cargo - Reuters India
Source: Google News India - Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:21 am We will not touch tainted co like Satyam: Narayana Murthy - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Google News India - Business | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:16 am Satyam's fraud may batter World Bank's image: ReportThe revelation of Satyam Computer's fraud may dent the image of the World Bank as it kept quiet until last month about its suspicion of the IT firm's corporate malpractices.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:13 am No decision on lifting trading halt on Satyam: NYSEThe New York Stock Exchange on Thursday said it has not decided as yet on lifting a trading bar on Satyam Computer.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:10 am Two US law firms file class action lawsuit against SatyamTwo US-based law firms - Izard Nobel LLP and Vianale & Vianale LLP - have filed class action lawsuits against Satyam Computer on behalf of shareholders.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:08 am Maytas Infra chairman RC Sinha resignsThe Ramalinga Raju family promoted Maytas Infrastructure on Thursday said its chairman and non-executive director RC Sinha has tendered his resignation.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:04 am Economic crisis rears its head, Asia stocks dropHong Kong: Asian stocks and emerging market currencies fell on Thursday, after dire US private employment data and fears about corporate earnings cooled investor willingness to take risks for higher returns. Major European stock markets pared early losses with the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 benchmark down 0.7% after a 3% drop in US stocks overnight. The financial crisis of 2008 has snowballed into a global economic crisis in 2009, with consumer spending crippled, Asian exports collapsing and unemployment rising at an alarming rate. Hopes that fiscal stimulus measures will support global growth, which fed the recent stock market rallies around the world, have been tempered by the cold, hard economic reality. A report showed the US private sector shed 693,000 jobs in December, increasing chances the US payrolls report due on Friday will reflect greater job losses than the expected 500,000. Stimulus aimed at infrastructure and interest rate cuts can take a long time to be fully felt, and company earnings are likely to deteriorate further in early 2009. Japan’s Nikkei share average fell 3.9% after stringing together its longest winning streak since one that ended in April 2006. Technology shares in particular were under fire after Intel Corp cut its fourth quarter sales forecast for the second time. In Japan, electronic parts maker Kyocera Corp was one of the top drags on the Nikkei, sliding 6.6 percent, while Hong Kong-listed PC maker Lenovo Group sank 22% after warning of a quarterly loss and cutting jobs. Taiwan’s tech-heavy TAIEX index fell 5.3%, its worst drop in two months, after a report on Wednesday showed a record 42% plunge in exports, spurring the central bank to cut rates unexpectedly by a half-percentage point. The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan was down 4%. Shares in Hong Kong lost 3.8%, Singapore stocks were down nearly 3% while shares in Seoul fell 1.8%. Expectations of even slower demand for raw materials dragged on metals prices, while US crude crawled back above $43 a barrel on escalating voilence in the Middle East after tumbling overnight. Too early for recovery trades Equity markets usually turn higher toward the end of negative economic cycles, as investors anticipate turning points well before they take place, sometimes six months prior. Some analysts have cited this as a reason for the strength in demand for stocks, high-grade credit and commodities. However, the severity of this global slowdown makes seeing into the future an even more treacherous task than it usually is. They recommended sticking with bets on further strength in government bonds, especially shorter maturities in Europe, as well as on US stocks since they will likely benefit from the one-two punch of fiscal stimulus and zero interest rates. Emerging market currencies weakened as the global equity rally came to a halt. Singapore and Malaysia are two economies most leveraged to demand from the developed world, according to Societe Generale economists. The US dollar recovered against the euro and other major currencies but pinning down a trend has been difficult so early in the year. The euro was down 0.6% to $1.3566. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 10:04 am Apple’s Jobs takes $1 salary, but holdings sufferSan Francisco: As he’s done for the last decade, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs took home his customary $1 annual salary in 2008, but the economic meltdown and Apple’s falling stock price whacked half a billion dollars off the value of his personal holdings in the company. Apple said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that Jobs, 53, who holds 5.5 million shares of Apple’s stock, hasn’t sold any of the shares since rejoining the company in 1997. That means what he lacks in annual compensation is made up for in the enormous amount of stock he already holds a hoard that took a beating in 2008 amid fears about the Mac and iPhone maker’s vulnerability to the US recession. Apple shares have lost more than half their value since the end of 2007, when they were trading at nearly $200 and Jobs’ holdings were worth more than $1 billion. The stock finished Wednesday’s trading session down $2.01, 2%, at $91.01, meaning Jobs’ stake is worth around $500 million. A big hit by any measure, the decline still barely dents Jobs’ massive fortune, estimated by Forbes magazine earlier this year at $5.7 billion and ranking him 61st on the publication’s list of the richest Americans. Most of Jobs’ wealth comes not from Apple but from the 138 million shares he owns of The Walt Disney Co., a 7.3% stake that makes him Disney’s largest individual shareholder. Jobs scored the Disney stake through a brilliant deal in which he sold Pixar Animation Studios, a company he bought from George Lucas for $10 million in 1986, to Disney in a multibillion-dollar stock trade 20 years later. Jobs’ Disney holdings are now worth $3.2 billion, more than $1 billion less than the stock was worth last year. Jobs has a similar relationship with Disney, where he serves on the board, as he does with Apple when it comes to pay. He doesn’t take a salary for his work as a Disney director. Apple’s annual proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that its strategy is remarkably egalitarian when it comes to the CEO’s compensation. The company doesn’t reimburse Jobs for the perks that top executives usually get like home security systems or a chauffeur, but it did reward him in a big way in 1999 after he engineered an impressive turnaround at the company: Jobs’ bonus that year was a $90 million Gulfstream V jet, whose operation Apple still helps pay for. Apple said in the filing on Wednesday that it reimbursed Jobs for $871,000 in expenses in 2008 for his use of the private plane on company business. In 2007, those costs were $776,000, and in 2006, it was $202,000. Jobs’ compensation hasn’t been without controversy, however. The company was embroiled in a scandal two years ago over its mishandling of stock option awards, some of which went to Jobs. At the height of the corporate “backdating” scandals that emerged in 2006, federal investigators began looking at Apple over possible criminal violations in the way the company handled its options, including an award of 7.5 million options given to Jobs in 2001. Jobs never cashed out the options; they were canceled two years later while they were “underwater,” or worthless, along with other outstanding options. Instead he was given millions of shares of restricted stock that make up nearly all of his current holdings. Apple eventually took an $84 million charge after it acknowledged it had backdated 6,428 grants between 1997 and 2002. Jobs was in the news for another reason this week when he revealed during the Macworld trade show that a hormone imbalance has caused the weight loss that made him look gaunt at recent events. Jobs said he wanted to squash rumors that he is gravely ill. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 9:49 am Satyam chief quits, fraud scandal slams sharesBANGALORE (Reuters) - The head of Indian outsourcing company Satyam Computer Services resigned on Wednesday, disclosing that profits had been falsely inflated for years and sending its shares plunging nearly 80 percent.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 9:44 am Satyam saga is a setback: NilekaniNew Delhi: Terming the Satyam debacle as a “black-eye” Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman of the country’s second largest software firm Infosys on Thursday said, that is a setback to India’s flagship IT sector. “This incident is a black-eye because we have been promoting Indian entreprenuers, Indian corporate as the flagship of brand India and when one of the lot really has a deplorable behaviour then obviously its not a good thing. “It’s something that is a setback to what we have been trying to accomplish,” Nilekani told in an interview to a private television channel. Talking about the fallout of the incident, Nilekani said, “Investors who have been shocked by this episode will obviously look for company numbers. We believe that the more data you share with the investors the better it is.” “All of us who run companies must really put ethics, corporate governance and running a transparent company in the front. If results are bad we should declare that, if profits are low we should declare that but we should not do anything which impairs the trust of our stakeholders,” he added. The resignation of Satyam chairman Ramalinga Raju on Wednesday morning after confessing to have doctored the company’s accounts for years has sparked fears among the Indian IT frims. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 9:31 am Maytas Infra Chairman R C Sinha resignsMumbai: The Ramalinga Raju family promoted Maytas Infrastructure on Thursday said its chairman and non-executive director R C Sinha has tendered his resignation. “R C Sinha, Non-executive Director and Chairman of Maytas Infra Ltd, tendered his resignation from directorship as well as chairmanship at the company owing to personal reasons,” Maytas said in a filing to the National Stock Exchange. Maytas Infra’s board of directors include R P Raju (Independent Director), B Teja Raju ( Vice Chairman), PK Madhav (Wholetime Director and CEO) and Chander Sheel Bansal (Wholetime Director). According to Maytas Infra’s shareholding pattern as on September 2008, Ramalinga Raju’s son Teja Raju held 2.53% stake, while the entire promoter group, which includes other members of the Raju family, holds over 36%. Ramalinga Raju had tendered his resignation on Wednesday as chairman of Satyam Computer and disclosed accounting fraud. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 8:50 am Sebi team reaches Hyderabad to start Satyam probeMumbai: A special team formed by the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India to probe the Satyam scam reached Hyderabad on Thursday. The committee, headed by Sebi’s southern region general manager, A Sunil Kumar, has been asked to submit the report to the Sebi at the earliest, a senior Sebi official said. “They have left for Hyderabad to start the investigation process,” the official said. Sebi formed the special team following the confession by the IT-major’s chairman B Ramalinga Raju on Wednesday of gross manipulations in the company’s balance sheets in the past several years. Shares of Satyam had slumped to a 10-year low on Wednesday following the developments in the company. Sebi chairman CB Bhave had termed the developments in India’s fourth largest IT company as an event of “horrifying magnitude” and said the regulator would take all steps in the matter. The investigation, Sebi said, will ascertain whether any provision of the Act or regulation has been violated. “We are in touch with ministry of corporate affairs... we are also in discussion with them as to what steps need to be taken from the perspective of power they have under the law and Sebi has under the law,” Bhave said. Announcing the probe, the market watchdog had said that the investigation will go into the affairs relating to buying, selling or dealing in the shares of Satyam Computer Services and submit the report to the board at the earliest. The investigating authority has been armed with power under various Sections of Sebi Act to carry out the probe, Sebi said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 8:40 am Web Exclusive | Shri 420WSJ | Corporate scandal shakes India Chairman of outsourcing giant resigns, saying he concocted financial results The chairman of one of India’s largest technology companies said he concocted key financial results, including a fictitious cash balance of more than $1 billion, sending shock waves across India and likely prompting investors to question other corporate results as the once-hot economy slows. Click here to see the Nifty listing ********* FT.com | $1bn fraud at India IT group The head of one of India’s biggest outsourcing groups has confessed to fixing the company’s books in a $1bn fraud described as the country’s “Enron” B. Ramalinga Raju, chairman and chief executive of Satyam Computer Services, resigned on Wednesday after admitting he had manipulated the accounts for “several” years to show hugely inflated profits and fictitious assets. The fraud is India’s biggest corporate scandal since the early 1990s and its first high-profile casualty since the start of the global financial crisis. ********** IHT | Satyam chief resigns over inflated assets Satyam Computer Services, a leading Indian outsourcing company, hugely inflated earnings and assets for years, the chairman and co-founder said Wednesday, roiling stock markets in India and throwing a pall over the country’s foremost business sector. The chairman, Ramalinga Raju, 54, tendered his resignation after revealing that he had regularly falsified Satyam’s accounts as the company expanded from a handful of employees into a back-office giant with 53,000 workers in 66 countries. *********** Forbes.com | Satyam revelation rocks Indian markets Company’s chair resigns, confessing to having falsified the company’s accounts for several years in order to forestall a takeover B. Ramalinga Raju, chairman of the scandal-plagued Indian outsourcing specialist Satyam Computer Services, has resigned, confessing that he had conspired to cook the firm’s books for several years. ********** BBC | India IT boss quits over scandal Mr Raju said he would subject himself to the laws of the land The boss of Satyam, India’s fourth-biggest software firm, has quit after revealing false accounts including some $1bn (£663m) in fictitious reserves. Chairman Ramalinga Raju apologised and said ”the gap in the balance sheet has arisen purely on account of inflated profits” during several years. He said he was subjecting himself to the laws of the land and would ”face the consequences”. *********** The Straits Times | IT boss quits over scandal India reeled in shock on Wednesday as the head of one of its biggest software services company quit after admitting that its books had been cooked for the past several years to show larger profits *********** The Times | B. Ramalinga Raju admits £1bn fraud and quits The chairman of one of India’s largest IT outsourcers has resigned after confessing to a £1 billion fraud, in a scandal that has been dubbed the country’s Enron. B. Ramalinga Raju, 54, chairman and founder of Satyam, said that he had wildly inflated the company’s profitability for years. The deception, which went undetected until he revealed it, resulted in the presence of 70 billion rupees (£950 million) of “nonexistent” cash on the group’s books. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 8:12 am Satyam episode may threaten FDI in India: Foreign mediaSatyam Computer faced brick bats in the foreign media with some saying that this episode could threaten investment from abroad in the country.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 7:59 am Investors' body to file complaint against Satyam with EODNASI, a registered NGO said it will file a complaint against software exporter Satyam Computer Services for 'cheating shareholders and investors'.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 7:58 am Post scandal, uneasy calm at Satyam facilities in PuneWhile the employees went to work as usual, the message from interim CEO Ram Mynampati, assuring the staff not to press the panic button, was doing the rounds.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 7:57 am Satyam episode may threaten FDI in India: foreign mediaNew York: The massive fraud at India’s software services firm Satyam Computer faced brick bats in the foreign media with some saying that this episode could threaten investment from abroad in the country and is likely to cast a cloud over growth in its outsourcing sector. “The scandal threatened to gobble up not just Raju, who resigned, but his company, Satyam Computer Services. Far beyond Satyam, it raised fears that similar problems might lurk in other Indian companies, particularly in its vaunted outsourcing industry,” American daily the New York Times said. In what could be termed as the biggest corporate fraud, Satyam on Wednesday made a shocking disclosure of accounts fudging by its founder Ramalinga Raju, who then quit as chairman, leaving an uncertain future for the company and its 53,000 employees. Raju, in a statement on Wednesday, said that Satyam’s profits had been massively inflated over recent years but no other board member was aware of the financial irregularities. Quoting Jacob Rees-Mogg, the lead manager with Somerset Capital Management, a fund that specialises in emerging markets, NYT said, “[T]he fraud will make people even more nervous about investing in India and other developing markets”. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal said, “[T]he chairman of one of India’s largest technology companies said he concocted key financial results, ... sending shock waves across India and likely prompting investors to question other corporate results as the once-hot economy slows”. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 7:49 am PM sees 7 pct econ growth this fiscal yearNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's economy is expected to grow 7 percent in the fiscal year to March 2009 despite the global slowdown, and will maintain a "strong pace" of expansion in coming years, the Prime Minister said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 8 Jan 2009 | 6:46 am Microsoft’s Ballmer: Windows 7 is nearly finalLas Vegas: Microsoft Corp.’s next version of the Windows operating system is almost ready for prime time. That’s one message Chief Executive Steve Ballmer was delivering on the eve of the official opening of the International Consumer Electronics Show. The world’s largest software maker was also announcing deals to make its Live Search programs the default search engines on more personal computers and mobile phones. And it showed off a new version of its Ford Sync in-car technology that folds in the voice-operated directory service TellMe, which Microsoft bought in 2007. For years, the opening keynote at CES belonged to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, whose status as industry pioneer justified the sweeping visions of the future he’d build into his speech. Gates passed the mantle on when he stepped down from day-to-day operations at Microsoft last summer, and Wednesday marked Ballmer’s first time making the high-profile address. Ballmer was due to announce that a nearly final “beta” test version of Windows 7 is ready for regular PC users to download and tinker with. The new operating system which could be available for purchase on PCs within a year uses much of the same underlying technology as its predecessor, the much-maligned Vista. But Windows 7 aims to resolve many problems PC users had with Vista. For instance, Microsoft pledges to make it easier to install peripheral devices and to have the software pump out fewer annoying warnings and notifications. Ballmer is hoping to boost the number of people using Microsoft’s Live Search engine, which ranks well behind Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. in popularity, through a deal with PC maker Dell Inc. Dell will put a special Live Search browser toolbar and Windows Live programs, including Microsoft’s instant-messaging application, on PCs that it sells. That deal replaces a relationship between Dell and Google. Microsoft also has formed a partnership with Verizon Wireless that calls for the Live Search tools to be added to all Verizon cell phones in the US that can access the Internet. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 6:02 am Lenovo sees quarterly loss, to layoff 2,500Hong Kong: Lenovo Group, the world’s No. 4 PC seller, announced a broad restructuring on Thursday, including a lay-off of 2,500 workers, as the global downturn pushed it to a loss for the December quarter. Shares in the company, which were suspended on Wednesday, opened nearly 17% lower in Hong Kong following the announcement. “Although the integration of the IBM PC business for the past three years was a success, our last quarter’s performance did not meet our expectations,” chairman Yang Yuanqing said in a statement. “We are taking these actions now to ensure that in an uncertain economy, our business operates as efficiently and effectively as possible, and continues to grow in the future.” Lenovo said the 2,500 employees accounted for about 11% of its total workforce, and the cuts were part an effort to realise annual savings of $300 million for the year ending in March 2010. It added that it would incur a pre-tax restructuring charge of about $150 million for the financial year 2008/09, which would be largely reflected in the fourth quarter ending in March 2009. As a result, the company said it would report a loss for its quarter that ended 31 December. As part of the restructuring, the company said it would consolidate its China and Asia Pacific organisations into a single business unit - Asia Pacific and Russia (APR). It added it also plans to reduce executive compensation by 30 to 50%, including merit pay and long-term incentives. The slowdown in the Chinese economy, which has been a major market for the company, also hurt sales, it said in a filing to Hong Kong bourse. The Chinese computer maker said it is relocating its call center operations from Toronto to Morrisville, North Carolina, the company’s main site in North America, with the aim of better leveraging its investment in real estate and facilities. As part of the management reshuffle, David Miller, senior vice president and president, Asia Pacific, will remain with Lenovo for a transition period. Scott DiValerio, senior vice president and president, Americas, who has led the Americas Group sales organisation for the past year, will be leaving the company, Lenovo said. The Americas group will report to Rory Read, senior vice president, operations. Shares of Lenovo tumbled 70% last year amid concerns about its eroding position in the worldwide market, compounded by effects of the sell-off in global stock markets. Lenovo saw its share of the global PC market drop to 7.4% in the third quarter of 2008 from 8.0% a year earlier, as it battled aggressive smaller rivals such as Acer and Asustek, both of Taiwan, and Japan’s Toshiba. All the industry’s major players are also having to cope with increasing softness in the market due to reduced consumer and business spending in the global economic downturn. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 5:41 am B Ramalinga Raju can get a 7-year jail termNew Delhi: Satyam Computer chairman B Ramalinga Raju can face seven years’ imprisonment in addition to monetary penalties for forging accounts, breach of trust and misappropriating funds. “He (Raju) can be charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for falsification of accounts, cheating and breach of trust. These offences attract a maximum penalty of seven years,” said a senior partner of law firm Titus and Company, Diljeet Titus. Expressing a similar opinion, senior Supreme Court advocate C A Sundaram said, “If the admissions (made by Raju in his resignation letter) are true, it is a very serious matter. It would be violation of (the) SEBI (code), Company Law and the IPC”. Satyam Computer chairman Raju, in his resignation letter to the board, has admitted falsifying accounts and under-stating liabilities. Another senior advocate and corporate law practitioner U K Chaudhary said the Satyam chief could be imprisoned for seven years under various provisions of company law. “Under section 628 of the Companies Act, which deals with misrepresentation of accounts, he could be punished for a maximum of 2 years along with penalty. However, the punishment term could be extended to seven years for producing false affidavits and other documents,” he said. In addition to Raju, Titus said “action should also be taken against Chief Financial Officers, Finance Managers, and Legal and Tax Advisors for their complicity in this episode”. Suggesting that the CBI should get into the case, he said if appropriate action is not taken, the Satyam fiasco would “make a mockery of the Indian enforcement mechanism”. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 8 Jan 2009 | 4:27 am Oil officers’ strike hits fertiliser sectorNew Delhi, Jan. 7 Day one of the indefinite strike called by the public sector oil companies’ officers has started impacting the commercial sector. While the Petroleum Ministry termed it as a “mixed scene”, the strike has led toSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Poser on Raju’s confession after share sale by IL&FSMumbai, Jan. 7 The timing of Mr Ramalinga Raju’s confessional statement admitting to a Rs 7,000-crore fraud in his company has raised several eyebrows among the investorSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Simple manipulation of revenues & earningsChennai, Jan. 7 Just what exactly is the financial/accounting manipulation of Mr RamalingaSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Bolt from the blue for staffHyderabad, Jan. 7 It was like a bolt from the blue for the staff of Satyam Computer Services as the news of Chairman Mr B Ramalinga Raju’s resignation for faking numbers broke out. Not that the staff were not expecting something unusualSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Gupta talks tough, wants RoC to submit report on Satyam in a weekNew Delhi, Jan. 7 Taking a tough stance, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has directed its field office to submit in a week’s time the report on the financial irregularities disclosed by the promoters of Satyam Computer Services.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am SEBI team to probe into Satyam share dealingsMumbai, Jan. 7 SEBI said it has appointed an investigating authority to look into transactions in the shares of Satyam Computer Services to determine if there have been violations of SEBI rules.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am ‘It was like riding a tiger’Following is the text of the letter Satyam Computer Services Chairman, Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, wrote to the company’s board. Copies of the letter were also sent to the SEBI and the stock exchanges.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Satyam spooks marketMumbai, Jan. 7 In a unique case of upheavals at a single company pulling down the Indian stock market, Wednesday’s disclosures by the founder-Chairman of Satyam Computer Services rocked the equities market, sending the Sensex crashing 7 perSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Rs 7,000-crore fraudHyderabad, Jan. 7 In perhaps one of Corporate India’s worst unfolding chapters, Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, Founder-Chairman of the $2-billion Satyam Computer Services, dramatically stepped down on Wednesday admitting to faking financial figuresSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am When a management is intent on committing fraud…The Satyam episode is all over the place. Who are responsible for this largest ever corporate scam reported in the Indian context? “Obviously, the primary responsibility to report ‘true and fair’ representation of theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 8 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am Raju confesses to fraud, quitsDisclosure after DSP Merrill Lynch discovers irregularities; Company sets up SWAT team.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 7 Jan 2009 | 6:53 pm 3i Infotech to pump Rs155 crore for stores in rural IndiaMumbai: Global IT firm 3i Infotech will invest about Rs155 crore in setting up 12,400 retail stores of its I-SERV brand in rural areas of nine states by end- December, offering insurance and telecom-related services. The software provider’s main focus is to offer telecom and insurance-related services, for which it has tied up with insurance companies ICICI Lombard and Max New York Life and telecom service provider Airtel. “The capital expenditure on each of our 12,400 stores is between Rs1-1.25 lakh. This will be funded from internal accruals,” 3i Infotech Executive Director & President - South Asia, Anirudh Prabhakaran told reporters here today. The company’s total spend on all 12,400 stores thus comes to Rs124 crore-155 crore. “It’s a win-win win situation for the rural consumers, the partners as well as the I-SERV stores,” Prabhakaran said on the alliance. 3i Infotech is setting up the stores across nine states and Union Territories, which include Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi. “There will be one store for every 3-6 villages, which would service about 3,000-18,000 people,” he said, adding that nearly 700 stores in Haryana and Gujarat have already commenced operations. The company would set up 2,000 stores by March-end. He, however, did not offer revenue and profit projections. “It would take us more than 18 months to break-even,” he said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 7 Jan 2009 | 1:48 pm
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