'We are open to strategic acquisition of Satyam'

Q&A: Vineet Nayar, CEO, hcl technologies

HCL Technologies posted decent results on the back of a rising rupee. The company recently made a successful bid for UK-based SAP player Axon group too. Kirtika Suneja spoke to Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies, on the future course of action in the backdrop of a global slowdown. Excerpts:

What will be the company’s future growth strategy?
In this environment, we will capitalise on all our strengths — both employees and management — to accelerate growth. We have three tailwinds that are the positives for us — namely the many orders that we are seeing, the number of outsourcing requests for proposal (RFPs) out in the market and the amount of vendor consolidation taking place.

How has the Axon acquisition figured in this quarter’s results?
We have added 2,000 Axon employees and the revenue from the company was Rs 86.7 crore for the period December 16 to 31. Axon would shave off 3 per cent from the company’s margins for the next four quarters.   Any plans for acquiring Satyam?
When the firm decides what to do, we will evaluate it. But we are open only to a strategic acquisition.

What is the company’s strategy regarding Satyam’s employees and clients?
Regarding clients, I can say that everybody is talking to everybody, that is every customer is talking to every vendor and vice versa. Anyway, the client overlap is very little between Satyam and HCL. As for Satyam employees, we will welcome them with open arms with all humility as they are a part of a high performance team.

What steps have you taken on the corporate governance front?
We have new corporate governance initiatives in place. We have set up a succession committee which will be headed by Shiv Nadar. There will be two independent directors along with me in the committee. Right now, there are 26 corporate officers who are selected by the board.

The succession committee will plan the next layer of corporate officers as the company increases in size and changes shape. The company is also getting into twin audits of our key assets of cash, cash equivalents and receivables.