Terming Satyam's shocking disclosure of about the Rs 8,000-crore (Rs 80 billion) financial fraud as a 'one off case', corporate leaders today expressed confidence and said it will not damage the image of India Inc.
"These kind of things do not do any good but I don't think this will affect the image of India Inc totally," Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava told PTI.
He said the Satyam fiasco is a "one off case" and the Indian IT sector would not suffer because of it.
"A fraud could happen in any sector," he said. Expressing similar views, Mahindra & Mahindra vice chairman Anand Mahindra said all Indian companies should not be painted with the same brush. I can only say that there is a very large segment of Indian industry, which in fact has always upheld very high standards of corporate governance through many generations of management," he said.
Mahindra said the same segment would recommit itself to making sure that
"(The) Satyam fraud is an aberration. I don't think it would shake clients' faith in other Indian IT companies. But the level of due diligence is sure to go up (and) in fact that would overtake other considerations. A lot of convincing has to be made by the companies now to clients," Infosys director (HR) T V Mohandas Pai told PTI.
Asked if Satyam has disgraced the Indian IT industry, which was riding the good corporate governance wave, he said, "Any fraud is a disgrace to society, the country and each Indian."
ICICI Prudential Chief Investment Officer Puneet Nanda said: "This is an unprecedented event in the history of corporate India and it is very important that interest of all stakeholders is protected and maintained."