"Satyam" keeps freshers 'on wait'

DESARAJU SURYA

Hyderabad: Holding out hope to fresh graduates who have been waiting for appointment in Satyam Computers, with offer letters earlier given by the company in hand, the software giant indicated that they would be "accommodated at the first available opportunity, as and when it is identified."
"We interacted with freshers holding Satyam offer letters, appraising them on the current situation and developments. On their part, most of these candidates have indicated to Satyam that they fully understand the current situation and are willing to wait until it becomes possible for Satyam to induct them as associates," the company and marketing and communications head Hari T said in a news letter NewsToday published on January 29.
NewsToday has been published for the "associates" of Satyam for the first time after the Rs 7800 crore scandal in the company came to light with the admission made by its former chairman B Ramalinga Raju.
Rebutting reports that appeared in a section of the media on the employee count in Satyam, the communications head pointed out that the 43,622 number being quoted was not true.
"The media has made this claim citing Indian Provident Fund Organization (PFO) figures of the total number of PF accounts maintained for Satyam employees.
However, these figures do not imply that the total number of Satyam Associates is 43, 622 as it does not include associates of Satyam Computer Services Ltd who are foreign nationals and who do not fall under India's PF regulations," Hari pointed out. Satyam has over 60 nationalities represented in its global workforce, associates employed by subsidiaries of Satyam in countries such as China and Brazil, and associates of Satyam BPO and other companies acquired by Satyam globally (Bridge Strategy, Citisoft, S&V etc.), he added.
Satyam continued to work with the audit firms reviewing the head count data and their findings were expected to reaffirm this fact.
The new Board, he said, was likely to make a formal announcement on the CEO and the CFO positions "very soon" and all names "bandied in the media" were speculative.
He termed as "false" reports on the Cisco deal with Satyam.
"Cisco's vendor management team has responded to a media report stating that the 'information represented is not an approved communication' from Cisco. Satyam continues to work with Cisco in a transparent manner to ensure continuity of business," Hari added.
Reports indicating that special discounts were being offered by Satyam for early payments to "one of our largest accounts" were false, he said. "Our customers continue to pay on schedule and no special discounts have been offered," the Satyam's marketing and communications head noted.

The "Satyam" fact file!

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: Probably for the first time after the Rs 7800 crore fraud in the company saw the light on January 7, 2009 -- thanks to the admission by the founder B Ramalinga Raju himself -- Satyam Computers Limited has come out with certain “facts” related to its operations and the controversies surrounding it.
The marketing and communications division of Satyam Computers has brought out a news letter entitled "NewsToday" to "counter the unfortunate reality" vis-à-vis the media coverage of events related to the software giant following its ex-chairman B Ramalinga Raju's admission of a massive Rs 7800 crore fraud on January 7.
NewsToday is meant to be an in-house publication for the Satyam 'associates' and the first issue of it was published on January 29.
"The objective of NewsToday is to equip you with the facts to counter media rumours and provide you with correct and full clarifications of developments," Satyam marketing and communications head Hari T said in his note to the 'associates.'
"It has been traumatic, to say the least: we confronted shocking revelations, battled to regain stakeholder confidence, and faced a maelstrom of media scrutiny and speculation, which continues to this day.
Yet, in the face of all these obstacles, we have achieved significant milestones, and we continue with efforts to restore our organization, steadily and step-by-step.
We now have an entirely new Board of Directors, consisting of luminaries renowned for their vision, leadership and expertise, and each with an impeccable reputation for integrity. The board's sense of purpose and urgency is clear: they immediately and decisively addressed several critical issues, including the confirmation of January payroll," Hari noted.
"However, media attention on Satyam – especially in India – continues relentlessly, and rumours abound. Here's why: the media is driven to maximize their audience. They are under pressure to be the "first to report" and provide "new perspectives" via "discussions by informed parties." Discussions of "what-if scenarios" lead to speculation and rumour. Rumours, more often than not, are reported as fact – as Breaking News – in the media," he lamented.
Seeking to highlight certain "significant developments," Hari said Satyam has approached certain financial institutions for funds against its encumbered assets to cover short-term operational expenses. The additional funding requirements were more to meet the outstanding dues accumulated over last few months, he pointed out. "We are quite confident that once these accrued obligations are met, Satyam will continue to remain self-sufficient to meet regular operational expenses on the basis of healthy receivables," he added.
Stating that customers continued to display a show of faith in Satyam, the marketing head informed that in the last two weeks the company bagged two new significantly large projects with customers in the insurance space, one of which was a Global Top 5 major.
Hari, however, did not specify either the financial institutions that have been approached for funds or the two companies that sourced the new projects to Satyam after the scandal saw the light.
Hari claimed that the prestigious American Society for Training and Development informed Satyam last week that it would honour the company with "Excellence in Practice" recognitions, in as many as six categories for outstanding efforts in training and leadership development.
The six initiatives, he said, were Talent Preparation Service, Enterprise Learning Technologies, Family Learning, Integrated Project Management, Learning Management Review and Re-Skilling Service.
A Satyam team working for a US-based pharmaceutical client donated Rs 90,000 to the Satyam Foundation. The team raised the money through individual contributions. These contributions would go a long way towards providing school transportation for underprivileged children, he pointed out.

Institute of Translational Research to come up in Hyderabad

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: Yet another world-class research institution will come up in Andhra Pradesh in the next three years.
The Institute of Translational Research (ITR), an autonomous institute being “facilitated” by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), will be set up on a 184-acre site at Rangapur village under Bibinagar mandal, close to the state capital Hyderabad. The state government has allotted the site to CCMB for establishing the Rs 1000 crore institute that will focus on various areas of biological research like cell biology, developmental biology, stem-cell biology and cancer biology.
The ITR’s objective will be to carry the research results directly to the (patient’s) bed, according to CCMB sources. The proposed institution, for which the Planning Commission of India has given its in principle nod, will collaborate with the Hyderabad-based Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences to carry the research results from “the bench to the bed,” the sources said.
The NIMS is shortly opening its second campus at Bibinagar and it will be tied-up with the ITR, the sources said. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research has also approved the ITR project.
The Government of India has already sanctioned Rs 360 crore towards, what the CCMB director Lalji Singh called, the “Mega Project.”
“The institute will give a boost to India's image as an emerging hub of biotech and pharma research. India has over 4,694 anthropologically well-defined populations. We need to leverage this as it can provide access to vital research for studying gene-environment interactions in relation to a disease and developing personalised medicine,” Lalji Singh said.
ITR is a totally “new concept,” according to Singh. “The modern institution and the associated medical school will anchor the application of knowledge of modern biology into clinical care,” he added.
It will also take up collection and analysis of large amounts of clinical data, development of personalised medicine, cultivation of stem cell populations, molecular diagnostics and design and development of targeted delivery systems. On the laboratory front, the institute will match its counterparts in the US, CCMB sources said. It will have the latest tools with a budget of Rs 300 crore plus hospital equipment worth another Rs 300 crore.
The ITR will offer challenging opportunities for about 1000 scientists and staff besides about 500 students, the sources added.
As many internationally-reputed pharmaceutical and biotech companies are located in Hyderabad, the Andhra Pradesh government pushed for the ITR project and succeeded in bagging it, beating Bihar in the race.
“The presence of ITR will attract multi-national companies engaged in clinical and genomic research to the state,” a top official in the Chief Minister’s Office said. With the required land in place, the “first hurdle” for the prestigious project has been cleared. Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is now using his good offices in New Delhi to get other clearances for the project and hasten its establishment, the CMO official said.

Nandamuri Balakrishna's AP tour

DESARAJU SURYA

Hyderabad: Film star and Telugu Desam Party leader Nandamuri Balakrishna will begin his tour of Andhra Pradesh from the Rayalaseema region on January 29 by addressing his first public meeting in Hindupur town in Anantapur district.
Balakrishna would address as many as 32 public meetings in the first leg of his tour covering Anantapur and Kurnool districts for five days.
Son of TDP founder-president N T Rama Rao, Balakrishna would campaign extensively for the party, beginning with Hindupur that was earlier represented by his late father.

After completing his Rayalaseema trip, Balakrishna will go to north coastal Andhra for the second leg of his campaign.
The TDP is banking on the clout of NTR family to regain lost glory and ensure victory of the party in the ensuing elections. Despite being busy with his film shooting schedules, Balakrishna has decided to spare time for the party campaign with the sole of objective of trouncing the Congress.
Of course, the TDP hopes that Balakrishna would be a strong counter to another film star Chiranjeevi who launched his own Praja Rajyam Party and has already been touring the state vigorously.
As elections are drawing closer, the TDP would like to rope in other stars from the NTR clan, like Kalyan Ram, Taraka Ratna and NTR (Junior) for the party campaign. With Chiranjeevi’s younger brother Pavan Kalyan too jumping onto the political bandwagon and launching his state tour from Karimnagar in Telangana region, the TDP would enlist the services of the junior stars from the NTR family to attract the youth.

Maytas grew only under YSR, thanks to undue patronage

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh has virtually acknowledged that Maytas Infra, promoted by Satyam Computers' ex-chief B Ramalinga Raju and his family, had indeed registered the fastest growth during the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy regime. State finance minister K Rosaiah, however, said the government was still trying to get a "confirmation" on this. Bowing to mounting pressure from opposition parties, the government has also agreed to come out with more details on Maytas. "This company has been in business since 1996-97 under the name of Satyam Constructions when the TDP was in power. The allegations being made by the opposition parties are far from truth. We will give you all the details," he promised. Rosaiah, who is also the state Cabinet's official spokesman, released the turnover figures of Satyam Constructions (renamed as Maytas Infra in 2003) from 1996-97. Figures given by the finance minister clearly indicated that Maytas Infra rose meteorically since 2003-04. The company which registered a turnover of Rs 383.39 crore in 2004-05 when the Congress assumed power in the state, grew rapidly to Rs 396.04 crore in 2005-06, Rs 782.05 crore in 2006-07 and Rs 1873.93 crore in 2007-08. The company has interests in road works, irrigation projects, oil and gas, energy and other major infrastructure works. Referring to the past, the minister pointed out that Satyam Constructions had a turnover of Rs 20.76 crore in 1996-97, Rs 49.35 crore in 1997-98, Rs 92.43 crore in 1998-99, Rs 101.02 crore in 1999-2000, Rs 124 crore in 2000-01, Rs 146 crore in 2001-02, Rs 192.26 crore in 2002-03 and Rs 299.33 crore in 2003-04 when the TDP was in power.

"SATYAM" and lies

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: "Satyam" (truth) lies clearly buried in the Ramalinga Raju case.
Was Ramalinga Raju, along with his brother Rama Raju, "picked up" by the police or did the brothers "give themselves up?" What formed the basis for their "arrest?"
Why were the Rajus "hidden" from the media and why was there a two-day delay in CID taking up the Satyam Computers financial scandal case for investigation? Was there any attempt to bail out the Rajus?
While there are contradicting answers for some of these questions, there are no answers for some other.
The police said something about Ramalinga Raju's "arrest" while state Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy revealed something else. There is also no coherence between what the police claimed and what the Chief Minister spoke on what basis has Raju indeed been arrested.
Moreover, the two-day delay in the Crime Investigation Department swinging into action has not only invited sharp criticism from opposition parties but has also left enough room for doubt over the actual motive.
The Chief Minister said today that he was informed by the state Director General of Police S S P Yadav around 9 pm on Friday that a team of CID sleuths has been dispatched to "pick up" Ramalinga Raju from his house.
But, events on Friday night told a different story. Ramalinga Raju and his brother Rama Raju drove in a convoy of luxury cars to the State Police Headquarters to submit themselves before the DGP. Police immediately claimed that the Raju brothers were "arrested."
Around 1 am that night, CID Inspector General (Economic Offences Wing) V S K Kaumudi told a frenzied media group – his statement was, of course, not clearly audible – that the ex-bosses of Satyam Computers were arrested when they came to the Police Headquarters.
Kaumudi also explained that the arrest was based on a complaint lodged by a Satyam investor under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
But the Chief Minister announced today that it was a suo moto action on part of the police based on the "confessional letter" written by Ramalinga Raju to the Satyam Computers Board.
Interestingly, around 9.15 pm on Friday, the so-called police spokesman A K Khan, who is of the rank of Additional DGP, denied any case has been registered against the Rajus and the CID was "merely enquiring" into the Satyam affair. Subsequently, he remained in communicado while other top police brass refused to take any calls. "Contact the police spokesman," was their constant refrain.
It was on January 7 that Ramalinga Raju came out with disclosure of a mind-boggling Rs 7800 crore financial bungling in Satyam Computers. The same afternoon, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, camping in New Delhi, announced that the CID would take up investigation into the Satyam case.
But the CID was formally asked to take up the case only on January 9, a clear two days after the scandal saw the light.
Things, however, moved at a brisk pace on Friday even as the Chief Minister camped in Chennai.
The state DGP held a top-level meeting with the CID Additional DGP A Sivanarayana and IG (EOW) V S K Kaumudi and chalked out the course of action. Immediately thereafter the DGP briefed the state Chief Secretary P Ramakanth Reddy about the police plan and subsequently the matter was conveyed to the Chief Minister who returned in the evening. And, around 9.30 pm the Rajus were "arrested." The Chief Minister, however, flatly denied there was any "delay" in launching police action against the tainted Rajus. CID officials, on their part, maintained that they swung into action as soon as they got necessary "directions" from the government.
Of course, the directions came two days late as was obvious.
The police took all pains to shield Ramalinga Raju from the prying media.
"Why was Raju hidden from the media," the Chief Minister was asked.
As is his wont, Rajasekhara Reddy did not care to answer this query.

The Grand Alliance

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: Political scene in Andhra Pradesh took an interesting turn with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti deciding to join the "Grand Alliance" comprising Telugu Desam Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India. The TRS' decision came as a major set back for the ruling Congress party and a rude shock for the fledgling Praja Rajyam Party of actor Chiranjeevi, as they desperately sought to align with the pro-Telangana outfit. The TRS, led by (former Union minister) K Chandrasekhar Rao, fought the 2004 elections in the company of Congress and Left parties, in the process helping the Congress to return to power with a thumping majority riding on a strong Telangana sentiment. However, with the Congress causing a split in its ranks by weaning away some of its MLAs, and also remaining indifferent on the demand for creation of Telangana state, the TRS severed its ties with the ruling party. At the same time, the Left parties too gradually parted ways with the Congress "disenchanted" by the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government's "anti-people" policies, particularly on land-related issues. The growing corruption in administration was another factor that left the Congress isolated from its old partners. The TDP had Bharatiya Janata Party for company in the previous elections but immediately thereafter the two parties broke away. What, however, altered the political equations in the state is the emergence of Telugu Mega Star Chiranjeevi as a significant political force by launching his Praja Rajyam Party late last year. Initially, the PRP showed interest in joining hands with the Left parties but first the CPM preferred the TDP. The CPI, despite strongly favouring an alliance with the PRP, had to toe the same line as its other Left partner and ultimately become part of the "Grand Alliance" led by the TDP. Later, the PRP opened its doors for the TRS and continued a dialogue with the separatist party for a prospective poll alliance. "We have almost conceded the TRS' demand for a certain number of seats to firm up an alliance," PRP chief Chiranjeevi admitted. Even as parleys between the two parties were on, TRS president Chandrasekhar Rao announced that they would indeed go along with the TDP-Left combine, upsetting the plans of Chiranjeevi. "The decision to align with the TDP-Left combine is the TRS' internal affair. We are, however, capable of going it alone," Chiranjeevi announced in Nellore. Now, the PRP has Nava Telangana Party of former home minister T Devender Goud as its lone partner. Interestingly, the Congress has not yet lost 'hope' on a tie-up with the TRS. While the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president D Srinivas maintained that "our doors are still open for the TRS," senior party leaders and Telangana protagonists feel anything might happen with KCR. "Like in cricket, you can't rule out anything in politics as well till the last ball is bowled. KCR is known to spring surprises and hence we haven't lost hope entirely as yet," a veteran Congress leader pointed out. The TDP, on the other hand, is upbeat. TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu told his cadre at a meeting of the party affiliate wings here today that the Congress would draw a blank in the Telangana region with the TRS joining hands with the TDP-Left combine. Party insiders said the TDP was ready to concede at least 65 Assembly seats to the TRS out of the 119 in the Telangana region. "Adjustments will be made accordingly with the Left parties on the number of seats in other regions of the state," a politburo member of the TDP indicated. The CPM and the CPI have reportedly identified at least 85 Assembly seats besides five Lok Sabha seats for contest but have already said they would settle for a lesser number to accommodate the TRS. The four parties are expected to start deliberations on seat-sharing only in February, two months ahead of the scheduled elections, party sources said.

GREETINGS & BEST WISHES

My heartfelt GREETINGS & BEST WISHES to all my blog readers and my dear friends for a HAPPY, PEACEFUL, PROSPEROUS & EVENTFUL NEW YEAR -- 2009.

with lots of love,
DESARAJU SURYA.