Satyam yet to get RBI nod for fund transfer to settle US suits

Mahindra Satyam (formerly Satyam Computer) which in February had agreed to pay $125 million to settle class action suits in the US, is yet to get the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) nod to transfer the funds, a senior company official said.

"It (RBI) wanted some clarifications. We are in the process of submitting documents. It is just a matter of time," the official told PTI.

The RBI has to approve of the fund transfer as it involves huge foreign exchange, the official added.

A group of investors in the US had filed suit for damages after the Satyam Founder B Ramalinga Raju in January 2008 confessed to manipulating accounts for years together. The IT company was later taken over by the Mahindras, which rebranded it as Mahindra Satyam.

On the day the settlement was announced, Vineet Nayyar, Mahindra Satyam's chairman, had said that $125 million would come from cash reserves, which were at Rs 2,900 crore, and company did not see any problem in getting the money.

The company may also approach the RBI with regard to the latest settlement with US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has slapped penalty on Mahindra Satyam and its auditors PriceWaterhouse up to $17.5 million.

Satyam scrip closed at Rs 75.90 today on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up 1.34% over the previous close.