Nasscom requests members not to poach Satyam staff

It is a request by Nasscom, the trade body for India's IT and BPO sector, that holds its members back from hiring or acquiring troubled Satyam Computer's employees or clients.

“It was decided in our executive committee meeting that other companies should not try to take over Satyam’s staff and clients, as this would affect the business continuity of the company. The employees of the company are working on different projects and it’s necessary to complete all these projects,” Nasscom President Som Mittal told Business Standard. “The association had put in a request to all our members, and the companies are maintaining a self-imposed restraint,” Mittal added.

This comes at a time when Satyam’s customers are reconsidering their contracts and employees are sending out resumes to the beleaguered IT company's rival firms. Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju had on January 7 confessed that he had cooked the company's books to the tune of over Rs 7,000 crore, throwing the future of the computer services provider and its employees into uncertainty.

The top three IT companies — Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys Technologies and Wipro Technologies — had earlier announced their intention to stay away from hiring Satyam’s staff and customers.

“We are not approaching any Satyam client nor employee. If someone approaches us, then we will take a call,” TCS COO and executive director N Chandrashekhar had said earlier during the company’s third quarter results announcement on January 15. One of the major reasons for TCS staying away from Satyam employees is that the company has frozen lateral hiring (recruiting of experienced personnel). The company has shifted its focus to hiring of freshers, which will help in reducing overall costs.

Infosys chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy and Wipro Chairman Azim Premji had earlier mentioned that their respective companies were neither interested in recruiting Satyam staff nor taking over its customers. However, sources in these companies admitted that they had received numerous applications from Satyam staff. The company had claimed to have around 53,000 employees, while the legal counsel to CID puts it at around 40,000.

Satyam, according to sources, was also at the risk of losing some of its majors customers. Its clientele include General Electric, General Motors and Nestlé.