January 28, 2009

The bare truth

'Satyam Computer Services Limited' (SCSL) was named after the sanskrit word for truth. The scam perpetrated by Mr.Ramalinga Raju has been termed 'a blot on image of India Inc.' by none other than our Prime Minster, Sh. Manmohan Singh.

It now appears that way back in 2002, an Income Tax investigation had unraveled a can of worms. A large scale evasion of Income Tax, many incidents of Insider Trading and related matters came to light but the enterprising income tax official was transferred and the files buried.

After the change of governments at the centre and the state of Andhra Pradesh, one would have thought that the new regimes, in the centre and in Andhra Pradesh, would go hammer and tongs after Mr.Raju, till then considered a protege of Mr.Chandra Babu Naidu, the erstwhile Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and an important partner of the NDA government at the centre. However as no such thing happened, it would be fair to assume that either the new regimes are incompetent or that Mr.Raju has managed to win new friends. We all know what is most likely to have happened.

Single-handedly, this man has jeopardised the careers of nearly 53,000 young men and women. He has nearly undone what nearly two decades of economic liberalisation had achieved for India Inc.'s image. After so many decades of the brain drain taking away our talent to pursue their dreams abroad, our young computer software writers and engineering talent had brought the entire western world to virtual dependence on our IT services. The west needed our low-cost IT services to stay viable and India benefitted because of the higher earnings of it's youth. This helped both India and the west.

But Mr.Raju's acts of ommission and commission at SCSL would have created some doubt about our ability to prevent recurrence of such scams. The TV footage of Mr.Raju donning a business suit travelling to the courts in his Mercedes car gives the impression that he is proceeding for a business meeting. If we do not act decisively and fast we might create an impression that political affiliations matter more to us than national economic interest.

It is obvious that Mr. Rama Linga Raju was not alone in this devious and long-duration scam. I pray and hope that good sense prevails upon our politicos and any effort at saving Mr. Raju are abandoned and all those who are guilty are punished forthwith.

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