Satyam loses 46 customers to rival tech firms

Around 46 customers of Satyam Computer Services have moved their outsourcing contracts to rival tech firms such as TCS, Wipro, IBM and Accenture, ever since the company’s founder and chairman Ramalinga Raju admitted to a financial fraud of over $1 billion.

Potential bidders for Satyam such as Tech Mahindra, L&T, Spice and iGate are readying their strategy for taking over a majority stake in Satyam, and their financial bids will depend a lot upon the amount of business Satyam has from around over 600 existing customers, last reported during company’s financial results for quarter ended September last year.

Top customers such as semiconductor firm Applied Materials, Kansas State Bank, Telstra, Emerson, Nissan, State Farm Insurance and Sony apart from dozens others have either moved out their projects completely, or are in the process of migrating current Satyam work to other outsourcing vendors, as these clients seek to mitigate the operational risks by working with more stable vendors.

“We are waiting for more details about the number of customers existing at Satyam, and the revenue visibility at the company,” said a senior executive at one of the tech firms preparing to bid for a majority stake of Satyam.

Satyam customers are also bringing the rates down by negotiating hard with suppliers such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL. “In some cases, vendors are ready to accept contracts from Satyam customers at less than 25% rates, including transition costs,” Sabyasachi Sathyaprasad, founder of Mindplex Consulting told ET in a recent interview. Semiconductor firm Applied Materials and automaker Nissan are among top Satyam customers in discussions with TCS and others for awarding new contracts.