Letters: Time for a reality check

The editorial, "TCS gets hit" (April 18), is just the kind of public admonition needed from the media whenever an Indian company operating internationally veers from the straight and narrow. When the company in question is an iconic one like TCS, the need to do so is even more.

TCS is not one of hundreds of small-time operators in the software industry; it is a symbol of India's success internationally. That it has been fined almost a billion dollars by a US court hurts not only the company's finances but also national pride. It means there is wrongdoing on the part of the company, intentional or not.

Read more from our special coverage on "TCS"

• TCS does away with Bell curve appraisals
• No major impact due to US fine notice
• TCS Q4 in line with estimates, better than Infosys on several parameters
• TCS beats the Street with strong numbers
• TCS Q4 profit rises 3.8% at Rs 6,341 cr

The company's declaration that it did not derive any benefit from downloaded documents is little consolation for the stakeholders - in the larger sense, the entire nation. TCS has gone on record saying the fine would definitely be reduced and, in any case, it would appeal. Arguably, this is tacit admission of a wrongdoing; the extent is irrelevant.

That several Indian companies have been fined by the US reflects badly on our controls and corporate governance. Or, is it a case of the influential US business lobby going to great lengths to protect its turf?

Whatever the reality - and it should emerge soon - the Tata brass have their work cut out for the next few months to get to the bottom of the case and tighten TCS' controls, weed out the guilty and reassure its customers in the US and elsewhere of its integrity and credibility.

Krishan Kalra Gurgaon

Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:
The Editor, Business Standard
Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002
Fax: (011) 23720201
E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
All letters must have a postal address and telephone number