Tech Mahindra writes to World Bank

Tech Mahindra, the new owner of the troubled Indian IT services firm Satyam, has officially written to the World Bank seeking an end to the
eight-year ban against Satyam Computer Services for allegedly providing improper benefits to the bank's staff.

The company has rebranded itself as Mahindra Satyam.

'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.

Tech Mahindra also said that it remains committed to developing a $75 million IT facility in Geelong and will continue to service Telstra despite losing a $30 million-plus contract.

Nayyar reaffirmed the company's commitment in talks with Victorian Innovation Minister Gavin Jennings this week.

"We're committed to the project (but) we've got due diligence in place. The goal is to complete the project but we need to investigate how much investment is needed," Nayyar said.

The Geelong project was announced more than a year ago with Satyam as the main financial backer, in partnership with the Victorian government, the City of Greater Geelong and Deakin.

The software hub was to create 2,000 jobs, a welcome reprieve for a region afflicted by automotive industry job losses.

Satyam's local chief, Venki Prathivadi, said Telstra was still a customer despite reports that TELCO had severed all ties.

"We had a five-year contract with Telstra from 2003 and we fully served it. Telstra put out a request for proposals and we made it to the short list," Prathivadi said.

Satyam still has contracts worth $135 million with Qantas and $12 million with Suncorp.

Courtesy : Economic times

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Scam-hit Satyam Computers renamed Mahindra Satyam

Scandal-hit Satyam Computers has been named Mahindra Satyam. The logo will be adopted from the Mahindra Group.


Speaking on the rebranding initiative, Mr. Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Mahindra Group, said, “Customer centricity, high standards of corporate governance, unimpeachable ethics form the cornerstones of the Mahindra Group. This rebranding exercise symbolizes an amalgamation of the Mahindra Group’s values with Satyam’s fabled expertise, even as it retains that part of Satyam’s identity which signifies commitment, purpose and proficiency of the organization and its people.”

Vineet Nayyar, Executive Vice Chairman, Satyam Board, commenting on the new identity, “This is a significant milestone towards the recovery of the company. We are optimistic that this new brand will re-energize the organization and will be well received by all our stakeholders. With this initiative, we will witness steps by the Management to adopt and inculcate the values of ‘performance and customer first’, ‘good corporate governance and citizenship’, which are drawn from the Mahindra Group. With this synergistic approach, Mahindra Satyam will learn from the best management practices of the Mahindra Group while focusing on nurturing Satyam’s innate skills and capabilities.”

Tech Mahindra will finalise this weekend a new identity for Satyam Computer Services, the scam-tainted IT company it bought in an open auction last April.

The decision was taken at a closed-door meeting attended by top executives of Tech Mahindra Hyderabad this weekend. The new brand has drawn on the strengths of both Satyam and Tech Mahindra.

The meeting was attended by Mahindra & Mahindra vice-chairman Anand Mahindra, group HR head Rajeev Dubey, Tech Mahindra CEO Vineet Nayyar, international operations head CP Gurnani and strategic initiatives head Rajeev Kalra.

Senior executives at Satyam, TechM and M&M had been working on the re-branding exercise with select external advisors ever since TechM acquired the company.

Satyam Computers, one of the top IT companies of India, shocked corporate India last January when its founder and then CEO B Ramalinga Raju confessed to cooking its books over years. The government launched a massive probe, took control over its board, and after three months, put the company up for sale.

Tech Mahindra did not want to continue with the Satyam brand in its present form, though it wanted to leverage the strengths of the firm. The new brand will convey the synergies of Satyam, well-known for its expertise in areas such as enterprise resource planning, M&M group’s global brand and corporate governance and Tech Mahindra’s strength in telecom.

Apart from re-branding, Tech Mahindra and Satyam senior executives also discussed the joint go-to-market strategy of the two companies.


Courtesy : Economic times

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