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3 more board members inducted

January 16, 2009

The government on Thursday inducted three more directors to double the strength of the Satyam board and said it would take every step required to salvage the IT company, reeling under a crisis ever since its founder Ramalinga Raju disclosed a Rs 7,800 crore (Rs 78 billion) financial fraud.

Confederation of Indian Industry chief mentor Tarun Das, noted chartered accountant and a past president of ICAI T N Manoharan and S Balkrishna Mainak of LIC, a major investor in Satyam, would join Deepak Parekh, Kiran Karnik and C Achuthan at the board. The expansion comes two days before the board is to hold its second meeting.

Making it clear that no bailout package was being considered by the Centre, Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta said that the new board, constituted on Sunday, had not sought any financial support.

Stating that Corporate Affairs Secretary Anurag Goyal had talked to Andhra Pradesh government to extend every possible help to the troubled company, Gupta said that according to the first impression of the new board, Satyam's operations were sound and by and large its major clients were willing to stay.

Asked if more members would be inducted, he said if the need be, more directors would be appointed to the board and that the government had constituted it under the direction from the Company Law Board.