Editorial: Satyam - Race over but challenges ahead

Though some of Satyam's investors might grumble at this throw-away price, it is needless to mention that the government and Satyam's move to hunt for a strategic investor has saved it from declaring itself bankrupt and going through the mill at the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).

Indeed, the government and the government-appointed interim board of directors at Satyam deserve a pat on their back for quickly resolving the crisis that had given the Indian market, which was already passing through a bout of depression due to economic downturn, a heart attack.

Incidentally, this is for the first time in India that a fraud-hit company, instead of being declared insolvent, has found a permanent positive solution a new owner. Instead of taking the life support off Satyam, a terminally-ill patient, the government, playing the role of a doctor, took steps to ensure that not only Satyam got healed, but also it could lead a normal life instead of dying a tragic death like Enron or WorldCom.

Of course, the Satyam episode did not spare the government its blushes and the government was left red-faced as it was criticized for not having adequate regulatory measures in place to protect the interest of shareholders. However, the government made amends by quickly stepping in and arresting the accused, sacking Satyam's board of directors and replacing it with handpicked people, and pushing the company through a quick sale, in order to prevent losses in the country's $71 billion outsourcing industry.