January was the month in which the Rs7,136 crore accounting scam at Satyam Computer Services Ltd surfaced, raising concerns over corporate governance standards in India and shocking investors. The fraud, which led to the arrest of Satyam founder B. Ramalinga Raju, made Housing Development Finance Corp. chairman Deepak Parekh the most cited Indian voice in the global media in January. Parekh, the government’s favourite corporate troubleshooter and one of the directors named to the Satyam board, was also the second most cited voice in the Indian media from among Mint’s 20-member group of influencers, after home minister P. Chidambaram.

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Whether to comment on the future of the software company and its employees, or funding options before the Satyam board and the hiring of a chief executive officer, or corporate governance in India, Parekh was the man the global media sought after the most. He received 190 citations in the global media, compared with 148 for Chidambaram, and 439 in the Indian media, behind the home minister’s 767.

Commerce minister Kamal Nath and C.B. Bhave, chairman of the markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), were the third and fourth most cited Indians both in the global and Indian media. Sebi has been at the forefront of efforts to improve corporate disclosures amid market concerns over the Satyam scam and company promoters hocking their shares.

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The Mint Influencers Index is a monthly, objective measure based on media analysis by Dow Jones Insight, which tracks these leaders, looking at the volume of media citings for each of them as a proxy for their rising or waning influence. The assumption is that visibility and share of voice is good for them and their companies and, in the case of global media, collectively the index is a good surrogate for the growing or waning interest in India.

Graphics by Ahmed Raza Khan / Mint

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