Can FIFA revive Mahindra Satyam's image?

Nearly 18 months ago, India's Satyam was rocked by a false-accounting scandal that threatened its very existence. But bosses believe the firm's image has been restored -- thanks to the World Cup. The software outsourcing giant, rebranded as Mahindra Satyam, has been the main IT services provider for the tournament in South Africa, ensuring the logistics were in place for the mega-event to pass off without a hitch. The firm's logo has been on pitch-side advertising hoardings at every match, while around 150 staff have been working behind the scenes to ensure fans, organisers, volunteers and the media are in the right place at the right time. "Our main goal was to show to the world that despite our problems we have been able to successfully deliver cutting-edge solutions at the highest, and most visible, level," said the firm's head of sports business, Dilbagh Gill. "We wanted to demonstrate to our customers, and give them confidence, that Mahindra Satyam, in spite of its resizing and its issues, is still a very strong technology player," he said in emailed comments from South Africa. Also Read → Satyam scam: CBI says it may or may not file fourth chargesheet → CLB gives Satyam time till Sept 30 to publish results → Mahindra Satyam to scale up South Africa presence → Satyam directors acted like 'rubber stamps' "We think this is coming across very well now in terms of us being able to deliver the solutions that continue to enable this World Cup to run successfully." Gill's optimism is a far cry from early January 2009, when the founder and former chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd, B Ramalinga Raju, admitted overstating profits and inflating the balance sheet by billions of dollars. The scandal at the Hyderabad-based firm -- dubbed at the time "India's Enron" after the US energy firm that collapsed in 2001 in the wake of false-accounting revelations -- was the country's largest-ever corporate fraud. It led to a rash of lawsuits at home and abroad. Raju and several former senior executives are currently awaiting trial. Tech Mahindra, a unit of Indian vehicle and farm equipment manufacturer Mahindra and Mahindra, bought the company, allaying fears about its survival and whether it could fulfill the World Cup contract it signed in 2007. Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/