(Published in Banking Services Chronicle March 2009)
Wealth can be generated at a rapid pace even through ethical means. This was a faith instilled in the Indian mind by the meteoric rise of the information technology (IT) sector. Narayanmurthy and his ilk became the guiding stars in the firmament of wealth creation. Brilliant minds were engaged in scoring music for the software symphonies. It seemed next only to heavenly bliss.
Until the fraud at Satyam shattered our faith in innocence. Though IT angels are bright still, one of the brightest fell. B Ramalinga Raju, the founder of Satyam Computer Services, was no more the gentleman he was supposed to be. There was some saving grace in the fact that at least he confessed to the fraud he committed. But even the confession now seems to be a thread in the web of lies Satyam has weaved for itself.
Whether it was the fudging of balance sheets, as he made it out to be, or a blatant pilfering of the company’s money, the bottom line is that faith in Indian business has been shaken. People would become cautious especially of family-run businesses so that there is no repeat of siphoning off of funds to pure family entities like Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra.
We are forced to ask if corporate governance has any maturity worthy of turning ourselves into a developed country. The so-called independent directors have made a mockery of themselves. If professionalism can reach its nadir in the fourth largest IT company of India, one wonders what happens at ordinary mortal companies.
The auditors have also come under scrutiny. The Satyam scam is being branded as India’s Enron. If the fraud at the American energy company led to the demise of Arthur Andersen, the current crisis has raised questions on the integrity of Price Waterhouse, the Indian arm of giant auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers.
It is not enough that conman Raju languishes in Chanchalguda jail of Hyderabad. Foolproof measures need to be implemented to cleanse the system as a whole. But above all, we need to take a lesson in ethics. Only then can our success dream of enjoying some kind of permanence.
