Hyderabad/New Delhi: Data storage device maker SanDisk Crop., a client of Satyam Computer Services Ltd, has told the US markets regulator that it might replace the fraud-hit software services vendor.
The financial difficulty faced by Satyam “has resulted in some project delays and loss of productivity,” the California-based firm said in a filing last week to US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Mint could not ascertain the size of business loss Satyam would suffer if SanDisk terminates its contract. The firm could not be immediately contacted in the US on time zone difference and its India arm said it is “not authorized to speak on the issue”.
Challenging times: Satyam’s chief executive officer A.S. Murty. Bharath Sai
“Our customer base remains intact and all our clients have chosen to stand by us during these challenging times,” Satyam’s chief executive officer A.S. Murty said in a statement on Tuesday about the company’s business outside the US and Europe.
Murty is on his first overseas trip as chief executive, to Singapore, after his appointment on 5 February.
Meanwhile, India’s corporate affairs minister Prem Chand Gupta told reporters in New Delhi that bid guidelines for the sale of Satyam will be announced in 10 days.
The Indian government dismissed Satyam’s board on 10 January and replaced it with six members headed by Kiran Karnik, a former head of software lobby group Nasscom, after Satyam’s founder B. Ramalinga Raju on 7 January resigned as chairman and admitted to having fudged the software firm’s accounts to the tune of at least Rs7,136 crore over several years.
Raju, his brother and former managing director B. Rama Raju and former chief financial officer Srinivas Vadlamani have since been arrested. Two auditors of Price Waterhouse, S. Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri, have also been arrested. Price Waterhouse, a unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers, audited Satyam’s accounts for several years.
Satyam’s shares fell by 2.61% to close at Rs39.25 on Tuesday on the Bombay Stock Exchange, on a day the benchmark Sensex index fell by 2.1%.
Reuters contributed to this story.