Satyam Computers is now Mahindra Satyam

Two months after taking over scam-tainted Satyam Computer Services, Tech Mahindra on June 21, 2009 renamed the IT major as Mahindra Satyam.

The logo will be adopted from the Mahindra Group. “This strategic move paves the way for the emergence of a robust brand, which draws from the core values of the Mahindra group and the inherent strength of the Satyam brand,” said a company statement here June 21, 2009 evening.

“Customer centricity, high standards of corporate governance, unimpeachable ethics form the cornerstones of the Mahindra Group,” said Mahindra Group vice chairman and managing director Anand Mahindra.

“This rebranding exercise symbolizes an amalgamation of the Mahindra Group’s values with Satyam’s fabled expertise, even as it retains that part of Satyam’s identity which signifies commitment, purpose and proficiency of the organization and its people,” the statement said.

Satyam’s executive vice chairman Vineet Nayyar described the move as “a significant milestone towards the recovery of the company”.

Tech Mahindra, owned by the $6.3 billion Mahindra Group, bought the scam-hit IT company in an open auction in April 2009.

The re-branding comes six months after Satyam’s founder and then chairman B. Ramalinga Raju confessed to a Rs.78-billion accounting fraud.

The government launched a probe, superseded the board, and put the company up for sale in open auction.

Ramalinga Raju, his brother Rama Raju, former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas and five other accused are currently in jail.

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Infosys to freeze hiring, says signs aren’t good

COMPANY FORECAST: S Gopalakrishnan, CEO and MD of Infosys, speaks at the Reuters India Investment Summit.

Infosys Technologies Ltd will freeze recruitment after meeting this fiscal year’s target of hiring 25,000 staff, a telling sign the global downturn is hitting India’s $52 billion outsourcing sector.

The country’s second largest software services firm however has no plans to cut jobs and is sticking with its third quarter outlook, CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan told reporters.

He said the outsourcing sector’s growth rate would halve next year as some customers delay orders. “Last year the IT industry grew more than 30 per cent, this year it is looking at somewhere in the region of 15 per cent,” Gopalakrishnan said.

India’s export-driven IT sector, used to a scorching pace of growth, has been hit by the financial crisis and recession in the United States, which contributes more than half their revenue. In the last few years, the outsourcing industry has created tens of thousands of jobs, mainly attracting young workers, as global companies look to trim labour costs.

Infosys hired 16,000-17,000 employees in the first half of the fiscal year that began in April and would honour commitments to 6,000 under training, Gopalakrishnan said. Infosys, which counts Goldman Sachs and Philips Electronics among its clients, cut its full-year dollar revenue outlook in October due to the worsening global downturn.

Gopalakrishnan said on Dec 04, 2008 the company would freeze fresh recruitment, apart from meeting specific skill needs. “We will have to look at controlling our cost, controlling our expenses making sure that we run an optimised business. We will have to look at what are things we need to do in order to prepare ourselves for the recovery.” “Growth is coming more and more from emerging markets so hese are the things we need to prepare ourselves. We should not lose momentum in this slowdown,” he said.

But Infosys still expects its strong client base and a weakening rupee to help it meet a forecast for December quarter earnings of $0.57 a share. The Indian rupee has fallen nearly six per cent so far this quarter against the dollar.

“Infosys is seeing further degradation of the demand environment, with headwinds from leadership changes at customers, a shrinking large deal pipeline …. Pricing pressure has emerged,” CLSA Asia-Pacific said in a report this week.

England may return, first Test shifted to Mohali

The England cricket team is likely to return to India on December 3 to play the two Test series against India.

The first Test from December 11 to 15 has been shifted to Mohali from Ahmedabad. The second Test had been shifted to Chennai earlier itself after the terror attack on Mumbai.

The three-day practice game that was scheduled to be held in Baroda from December 5 to 7 is also likely to be played in Mohali.

England called off their seven-match ODI series with two more games to play after the terror attacks in Mumbai. The visitors were playing their fifth ODI in Cuttack on December 26 when terrorists struck India’s financial capital.

The team flew to Bangalore from where they flew back home. While some England cricketers have voiced their reservations about coming back to play in India, England skipper Kevin Pietersen has refused to be cowed down by the attacks.

India’s 40 Richest Persons – 2008

Source: Forbes.com

Rank	Name	Net Worth ($mil)	Age	City
1	Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries Limited)	20,800	51	Mumbai
2	Lakshmi Mittal (Mittal Steel Company Ltd.)	20,500	58	London
3	Anil Ambani (Reliance Communications, Reliance Energy)	12,500	49	Mumbai
4	Sunil Mittal (Bharti Airtel Group)	7,900	51	Delhi
5	Kushal Pal Singh (DLF Limited)	7,800	77	Delhi
6	Shashi & Ravi Ruia (Essar Group)	7,600	64	Mumbai
7	Azim Premji (Wipro Technologies)	7,000	63	Bangalore
8	Kumar Birla (Aditya Birla Group)	5,000	41	Mumbai
9	Adi Godrej (Godrej Group)	4,000	66	Mumbai
10	Gautam Adani (Adani Enterprises Group)	3,900	46	Ahmedabad
11	Dilip Shanghvi (Sun Pharmaceutical Industries)	3,100	53	Mumbai
12	Savitri Jindal (O.P. Jindal Group)	2,900	59	Delhi & Hisar
13	Malvinder & Shivinder Singh (Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited)	2,800	36	Delhi
14	Anil Agarwal (Vedanta Resources Corporation)	2,400	55	London
15	Shiv Nadar (HCL Group)	2,200	63	Delhi
16	Micky Jagtiani (Landmark Group)	2,000	57	Dubai
17	Indu Jain (Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.,)	1,800	72	Delhi
18	Cyrus Poonawalla (Poonawalla Group, Serum Institute of India)	1,600	67	Pune
19	Uday Kotak (Kotak Mahindra Bank)	1,550	49	Mumbai
20	Chandru Raheja (K. Raheja Corp.)	1,500	68	Mumbai

21	G.M. Rao (GMR Infrastructure Group)	1,470	58	Bangalore
22	Vivek Burman (Dabur India Limited)	1,300	71	Delhi
23	Anurag Dikshit (PartyGaming)	1,250	36	Gibraltar
24	Kalanithi Maran (Sun TV Network)	1,200	43	Chennai
25	Venugopal Dhoot (Videocon India)	1,100	57	Mumbai
26	Yusuf Hamied (Cipla Pharmaceutical Laboratories)	1,060	72	London & Mumbai
27	Ramesh Chandra (Unitech Group)	1,000	69	Delhi
28	Subhash Chandra (Zee TV Entertainment)	970	58	Mumbai
29	N.R. Narayana Murthy (Infosys Technologies Limited)	965	62	Bangalore
30	Rajan Raheja (Rajan Raheja Group)	950	54	Mumbai
31	Brijmohan Lall Munjal (Hero Honda Motors Limited)	940	85	Delhi
32	Baba Kalyani (Bharat Forge)	935	59	Pune
33	Tulsi Tanti (Suzlon Energy)	930	50	Pune
34	Jaiprakash Gaur (Jaypee Group)	890	77	Delhi
35	Niranjan Hiranandani (Niranjan Hiranandani Group)	885	58	Mumbai
36	Murali Divi (Divis Laboratories)	870	57	Hyderabad
37	Hemant Shah (Akruti City Limited)	830	55	Mumbai
38	Gracias Saldanha (Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd.)	825	70	Mumbai
39	Anand Jain (Jai Corporation Ltd.)	810	51	Mumbai
40	Rahul Bajaj (Bajaj Auto Ltd.)	760	70	Pune