No weight left to be shed: Vineet Nayyar & C P Gurnani

Interview with Vice-chairman and CEO & MD, Tech Mahindra

At the press conference, it was announced brand Satyam would cease to exist and the merged entity would continue to be known as Tech Mahindra. Vice-chairman Vineet Nayyar and Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director C P Gurnani answered questions on what the merger means for the company. Edited excerpts:

On the merger process:
It started four years ago, with the acquisition of Satyam in April 2009. The first year was spent on restoring its health, the second on containing the damages, the third on consolidation and the fourth on levels of competence and financial management above board. Tech Mahindra and Satyam were like modern-day couples, living in for four years. But they were merged officially yesterday.

On the merged entity's business targets:

The combined revenues of the company stand at $2.7 billion. It has 84,000 employees. Earlier, Tech Mahindra was entirely focused on telecom, but now, with Satyam's integration, that has been reduced to about half. We will focus on building strength in other enterprise verticals. The company targets revenues of $5 billion by 2015. This is a stretch goal we have set…but with the merger in place, (it) seems achievable.

On the management structure:
No major changes planned, including no lay-offs. Milind Kurkarni has been appointed chief financial officer, as Sonjoy Anand has decided to pursue other opportunities abroad. Hari T remains chief marketing officer of the merged entity, while Rakesh Soni would continue to be chief human resources manager. A S Murty would remain chief technology officer. Anand Mahindra would be chairman of the merged company, to be headquartered in Mumbai.

On the 'Satyam' name and the benefits of the merger:
The Satyam name will cease to exist now; the Registrar of Companies has been asked to scratch it out. The decision to retain the Tech Mahindra name, instead of giving a new name to the merged entity, was based on a consensus among customers, employees and analysts. There are clear benefits, in terms of perception of the company as a strong entity.

There is no weight that is left to be shed; we just need to add more bone and muscle to it.

On pending litigation:
All matters have been settled. No investigations are pending, except those involving Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju. The company has promised to cooperate with investigative agencies and make available all possible records.