After Infosys, Wipro drops Satyam from rival list

21 May 2009,PTI

NEW YORK: Scam-hit Satyam seems to be losing its status as a noteworthy rival for the top Indian IT firms, as Wipro has become the second major player in this space after Infosys to drop its name from the list of competitors.

Satyam used to be a regular in the list of competitors mentioned by its larger peers like Infosys and Wipro in their annual report filings with the US market regulator Securities and Exchange Commission.

However, Satyam's name is conspicuously absent in Wipro's latest annual report filing for the financial year ended March 31, 2009. Prior to this, Infosys also dropped Satyam's name from its list of noteworthy rivals in its latest annual report filing, filed with SEC earlier this month.

All the three Indian IT firms, Infosys, Wipro and Satyam are listed in the US -- Infosys on Nasdaq and the rest two on the New York Stock Exchange.

Before it was hit by the country's biggest-ever fraud admitted to by its founder and then chairman Ramalinga Raju in January, Satyam was known as the fourth-biggest software exporter from the country after TCS, Infosys and Wipro.

Satyam Computer has already embarked upon a revival path after its government-appointed board finalised a deal to sell controlling stake of 51 per cent in the company to domestic conglomerate Mahindra Group.

The other names and factors about competition in Infosys' latest annual filing have remained broadly unchanged from the previous year.

Infosys has said that it competes with "consulting firms such as Accenture Limited, Atos Origin, BearingPoint Inc, Cap Gemini SA, and Deloitte Consulting LLP."

Besides, it also competes with divisions of large global technology firms such as HP and IBM, IT outsourcing firms such as Computer Sciences Corp, Keane, Logica and Perot Systems; offshore technology services firms such as Cognizant, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro Technologies Limited.

Other companies named as its competitors include "software firms such as Oracle Corporation and SAP AG; business process outsourcing firms such as Genpact Limited and WNS Global Services; and in-house IT departments of large corporations."

However, Wipro and Infosys have not clarified the reasons for Satyam's omission from among their competitors.

About competition, Wipro said that its "competitors are located internationally as well as in India. We expect that competition will further increase and will potentially include companies from other countries that have lower personnel costs than those currently in India."

"We believe we compete favourably with respect to each of these factors and believe our success has been driven by quality leadership, our ability to create client loyalty and our expertise in targeted select markets," it added.