Govt not to turn a blind eye to Satyam layoffs: Khursheed

The government today said it would not turn a “blind eye” to the issue of layoffs in the scam-tainted Satyam Computer, which has now been acquired by Tech Mahindra. “Layoffs — this is something we are not going to turn a blind eye to, as we have a relevant presence in decision-making,” Minister for Corporate Affairs Salman Khursheed said.

He was responding to queries on the comments by Tech Mahindra CEO Vineet Nayyar that there were 10,000 surplus people in the Hyderabad-based IT firm.

Later there were reports that Satyam was planning to lay off about 8,000 non-billable staff working in departments like marketing, HR and administration.

Emphasising that his ministry would liaise with the company on this issue, Khursheed said, “We will not allow the company to be taken for a ride ... Our opinion and advice (are) important till Satyam reaches a ‘sundaram’ stage (till everything improves).”

Coining the strategy for the IT company as “Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram”, the minister said Satyam was passing through the Shivam stage, necessitating hard decisions.

“At the Shivam stage, some hard steps ... will be taken for rebuilding the confidence...We will try to be as sensitive as possible. We would certainly coordinate on that (layoffs),” the minister said.

When asked if the Satyam case was the tip of the iceberg and there could be more corporate frauds, Khursheed said, “I would call it a symptom of something wrong in the system. You need to treat the system, the root ... Otherwise the symptom may reappear. If I call it a tip, it means I am saying there is an iceberg.” On inspecting the books of accounts of 150 companies, including DLF, ordered by his predecessor in tandem with government action on Satyam, Khursheed said if some probe had been ordered (by former minister P C Gupta), it would be taken to its logical conclusion.

“It will make my task easier,” Khursheed said.

In pursuance with the Company Law Board (CLB) order, the government had superseded the board of Satyam and appointed six nominee directors, who are still there.

Later, the CLB allowed Tech Mahindra to appoint four nominee directors on the board of the IT firm.