Looking To Hit A Birdie

Tech Mahindra, which successfully merged the scam-hit Satyam Computer Services with itself in 2013, has not been able to leapfrog into the league of its larger peers despite a steady rise in revenue. Here’s what it is doing to spur growth in these changing times.

- Debojyoti Ghosh

IN APRIL 2009, Tech Mahindra, the information technology (IT) arm of the Mahindra Group, bought a controlling stake in the scam-hit Satyam Computer Services; Gurnani, who was then head of global operations at Tech Mahindra, was tasked two months later with leading the rebranded entity, Mahindra Satyam.

The days that followed were hectic. Gurnani’s first task was to put Satyam back on track. Its business was severely dented by its chairman B. Ramalinga Raju’s admission in January 2009 that he had fudged the company’s books to the tune of 7,000 crore. Before the scam came to light, Satyam had nearly 500 active customers. In a year’s time, the number reportedly shrank to 300-350. Rising attrition made matters worse: The company’s employee rolls shrank to 27,000 from the previous year’s 45,000. So, after he took his position at the helm, much of his time was spent in damage control. In 2012, Tech Mahindra announced Mahindra Satyam would be merged with it. The merger was completed in June 2013 and the new company with Gurnani as MD and CEO was listed as Tech Mahindra Ltd the next month. “I was more than a little nervous about handling the transition, with zero idea on how much time it would take. I told my family I would be busier than I had ever been,” he says.