Fortune 500 firm terminates contract with Satyam

A Fortune 500 American insurance company has terminated its contract with the scam-tainted Satyam Computer, rendering about 400 of its employees jobless, media has reported.

State Farm Insurance Company has decided to terminate its contract with Satyam Computer following surfacing of a scam in the Indian IT company, reported the daily Pantagraph from Bloomington in Illinois, where the company is headquartered.

The contract was terminated on Thursday. "The current uncertainties surrounding Satyam's future and potential impact to State Farm resulted in this decision," the newspaper quoted the company as saying.

Satyam Computer, the newspaper said, has been a long-term vendor of the State Farm and is one of the several vendors which the insurance company uses for this type of IT work.

As a result of the termination of contract, a large number of Satyam employees are likely to return to India because of their visa requirements.

However, some of them are likely to stay back if they get a new job and are able to get a work visa.

According to the newspaper, State Farm Jeff spokesperson McCollum said it's possible that some of the Satyam employees, who obtain visas to work in the US, "under certain circumstances, after the right requirements have been met," could end up obtaining new employment with another State Farm vendor.