Dalal Street

Satyam Computers Services Ltd Founder and Chairman confessed of accounting fraud to the extend of $1 bn. Excerpts from Raju’s letter follows,

The Balance Sheet carries as of Sept 30, 2008,

• Non existent cash and bank balances of Rs 5,040 cr
• An accrued interest of Rs 376 cr which is non-existent
• An understated liability of Rs 1,230 cr on account of funds arranged by me
• An overstated Debtor’s position of Rs 490 cr as against Rs 2,651 cr reflected in the books

For the September Quarter, a revenue of Rs 2,700 crore and an operating margin of Rs 649 crore was reported as against the actual revenues of Rs 2,112 crore and an actual operating margin of Rs 61 crore.

The gap in the Balance Sheet is on account of inflated profits over a period of last several years. What started as a margina gap between actual accounting profits and the one reflected in books of accounts continued to grow over the years… Read the full letter here [PDF]

So who is next in line ? Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications is already probed for Evasions. Indian Real Estate Companies are also known for their Inflated Land Bank Values… Will the truth ever come to light ?

Auto ancillary industry is not excited over the fiscal stimulus package contending that there will not be any immediate relief from it. The industry feels that it will probably see any benefits of the package only after four to six months.

Indian government on January 2 unveiled second fiscal stimulus package in a month to boost the slowing economy. Banking regulator Reserve Bank of India also joined the move by cutting key policy and reserve rates. Analysts are saying that stimulus measures would force banks to lend more, however the benefits would be apparent only after April.

However, industry insiders believe that the move to increase depreciation on commercial vehicles purchased during the first quarter of 2009 does have a chance to push up sales and it will in a way help to prevent further down slide in this segment. Commercial vehicles sales declined by more than 50% in November and performance in December has been no better.

Satyam Computer Services Ltd, a Leading global consulting and information technology services provider, announced today that Forrester Research, Inc., has published an independent report on its innovation strategy, and calls for other organizations to “emulate Satyam by unleashing and harnessing their firms grassroots creative energy“.

The report, “Satyam ignites Innovation from the Bottom Up (Forrester Research, Dec 18, 2008), is the ninth such paper in the research firm’s series entitled ?India: The Innovation Giant (Re) Awakens.

It notes that while other professional services organizations create external innovation networks, Satyam first innovates from within. Highlights of Satyam’s innovation programs, which are led by Venky Rao, senior vice president of innovation and leadership, include Cultivating an innovation network from the inside out, starting with employees and marrying innovation management training with leadership development.

The paper highlights four programs Satyam operates to foster innovation. They include:

• I-DNA, 10 to 15 people (from the same business or different functions) who collaboratively generate new ideas for improving existing products, services, and processes, or identify whole new business opportunities
• Ideation, responsible for turning that idea into reality or finding a solution to that FLCL’s problem.
• IdeaJunction, a crowd sourcing site invites ideas from anyone in the Company on a variety of topics, ranging from HR policies to new business models.
• Intellectual assets, the enablement team converting an idea… it a valuable intellectual asset for Satyam.