Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Power of A-satyam!!

By now, all of us are very much aware of the Satyam fiasco. For me it is 26/11 of the Dalal Street. Its big, its shocking and it will remain for some time in public memory. 

Will this keep some of the flamboyant players in the industry on toes for some time? I hope so.

Coming back to Satyam saga, the timing of the letter is apt. Markets bounced back in last 4 weeks and Mr Raju's remark had a potential to take the market further down from november lows to new lows. What worries me is the nexus politicians have with the corporates. So can we assume that few of them were aware of these issues back then? If yes, was there any monetory gain associated with this insider info? I guess even time cannot tell.

Mr Raju claimed that Maytas deal was planned to clean the books. Who advised Mr Raju on Maytas deal? Was it the Auditor again? If yes, can they claim not GUILTY in this episode then? I hope we get the answer for this.

In business, one should follow 10 commandments or know the 11th which says," Thou shall Never get cought". Mr Raju ignored all the 11 commandments and thats why he is in trouble. 

If Satyam, which was fourth largest sof co in the country, operated at 3% op margin then either the employees on the bench are significant or the margins are horrible. In either case many small and some of the big software companies that are reporting 15-25% op margin need to be scanned by the regulator. 

Lets hope in the end its Satyameva Jayate!!