In the wake of the Satyam scam, India Inc got its most severe dressing down on Thursday from finance minister Pranab Mukherjee as well as Opposition leader and BJP PM candidate Lal Krishna Advani.
?The government has given sufficient freedom to companies. It is important that corporates function strictly within the regulatory framework and apply highest standards of ethics in all their working,? Mukherjee said at the Ficci annual general meeting, urging companies to undertake special precautions and due diligence.
Mukherjee said the government would ?spare no effort in getting to the bottom of this terrible scandal?, even as Advani later called for a judicial probe. Addressing the same audience, Advani said the Satyam case had adversely affected the image of India Inc.
?That all is not well with our corporate sector has been brought home with dramatic effect by the Satyam-Maytas scandal. You are getting a bad name due to the case,? the veteran politician said. Calling the Satyam fraud an aberration, Mukherjee said the adverse fallout could not be allowed to affect the $60-billion IT industry, which has exports worth $40 billion. ?There should never be a repeat of this most unfortunate failure of corporate governance. I firmly believe that even a single such incident is one too many,? he said.
The minister said that as most developed economies were expected to contract by over 2%, India, with an expected growth rate of nearly 7%, would be able to attract foreign investment. FDI inflows had slowed and foreign institutional investors had been exiting stock markets as the global downturn deepened.
?There is a need to sustain our foreign trade, revive foreign investment and generate domestic demand in order to maintain our growth rates, which are essential for the uplift of the multitudes below the poverty line,? Mukherjee said.
?The Satyam (case) is not corporate fraud. It is a governmental scandal? a CBI enquiry is not enough. A CBI enquiry will only tell the court that assets were bought in false names. A judicial enquiry is needed; a commission of enquiry is needed,? Advani said.