Satyam's figures about headcount could as well be correct

What is the headcount of the scam-tainted Satyam Computer Services? Doubts over the company's claim of 53,000 employees continued ever since its founder B Ramalinga Raju admitted that he had fudged the accounts of the IT services major.

More so, when public prosecutor Ajay Kumar, arguing on behalf of the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department, submitted in the court that there could be only 40,000 employees in the company. According to him, Raju admitted this during police interrogation.

However, the government appointed six-member board of Satyam emphasised that there was sufficient data which pointed out that the company's claims were correct. Tarun Das, a board member, said that the headcount could be 50,000.

On the other hand, the Provident Fund Organisation said that it has 43,622 accounts of Satyam employees while the Income Tax Department had reportedly disclosed that the company paid Rs 250 crore as tax deducted at source (TDS) for 44,000 employees in 2007-08.

Given the number of PF accounts, the figure stated by  the company could as well be accurate. For, according to Satyam, the PF account tally does not include its associates who are foreign nationals and who do not fall under India's PF regulations.

Satyam has its presence in 66 countries and sources said that more than 100 people work in each of these countries. This indicates an additional workforce of about 7,000 is working abroad.

The PF accounts also does not include the people employed by the subsidiaries of Satyam in countries such as China and Brazil. So also the associates of Satyam BPO and other companies acquired by it globally (Bridge Strategy, Citisoft and S&V).

"We stick to that 53,000 figure," Hari Tallapalli, Satyam's global head, marketing and communication, said, adding that an internal verification had indicated that there was no reason to doubt the headcount number.

But what is exact number of employees? Hari could not give it. As indicated earlier, Satyam was working with audit firms reviewing the headcount data and their findings were expected to reaffirm the company's figures, he said.

Ramalinga Raju's counsel S Bharat Kumar also said that so far neither the investigation agencies nor the media have come up with any evidence to show that the employees numbers have been fudged.

While announcing the second quarter results this year, Satyam stated that it has 48,434 associates, an addition of 1,814 associates, including 221 trainees. About 12-18 months ago, the company has sent offer letters to 6,000 people who were yet to be inducted into the workforce.