From Little India to Belittling India….

Jan 7, 2009 is a day that will be etched in the memory of Corporate India forever. One of its biggest heroes Ramalinga Raju, had in an attempt to garner sympathy and present the façade of taking the high road, admitted to committing financial fraud to the tune of Rs 7000 crores. Whatever might be the justification, the fact remains he screwed up….that too big time. Even as the world goes nuts calling it India’s Enron and Raju, the Indian Madoff, what we are sidelining is the plight of almost 52,000 families whose bread and butter was to come from this beacon of Indian IT.

All these people, till yesterday unaware of what was happening in the ivory towers, were going about their lives with a chip on their shoulder merely because they had something in common with a company that was synonymous with the success of Indian IT. And hey presto the dream came to an end.

And while resumes flood the net and head hunters’ offices, the fact remains this could not have come at a more inappropriate time, when the industry is facing multiple challenges and there are very few jobs to go around. Fact is also that there are going to be much experienced and talented people within the Satyam pool who will now want recourse. This also poses a question for competitors looking to retain and employ only quality talent, and weeding out the chaff. Will this sudden spurt of qualified and employable talent create an excess that will cause more trouble for the lesser entrenched, lower qualified personnel in IT majors?

The after effects are only beginning to unravel and it remains to be seen what India and its corporate sector will do to salvage the plight of these unfortunate souls who Satyam employed.