Wipro, Infosys 'not to poach' Satyam staff or clients

NEW DELHI: Expressing solidarity, country's top IT majors such as Infosys and Wipro on Sunday said they will not proactively approach clients of Satyam but made it clear that they will not say 'no' if clients approach them. "We have already made the announcement that we will not poach any Satyam employee. We will not proactively approach their clients and customers either... but clients have to decide for themselves and they have the right to choose their partner at work," Infosys HR director MohanDas Pai said. "I can't say no to customers if they come to me with more businesses. We already have customers which are common with Satyam. If they are giving us more business we will not say no. It is definitely creating problems for customers," Wipro CFO Suresh Senapathy said in an interview to a Television channel. Analysts has said that over half a dozen rivals of the tainted IT firm Satyam Computer have started exploring ways to take over the business from its various clients, a global technology consultancy firm had said. Satyam is likely to see its clients as well as employees deserting it soon due to the competitive wooing by rivals and top IT firms such as Infosys would continue to shore up their market share, analysts at Forrester Research said in a report. "Large and small clients alike will look to other suppliers they already work with as an immediate fallback position as the confusion continues. More than half a dozen providers have already called Forrester to discuss competitive strategies for taking over business in joint accounts," it added. "Both clients and employees will desert Satyam as a result of competitive wooing. In our interactions with several of Satyam's employees across the organisation they showed utter frustration," Forrester Research's VP and PrincipalAnalyst, John McCart and its Senior Analyst in India, Sudin Apte said in the report. IT industry body Nasscom has also said that it will refrain from poaching employees from Satyam. The government's move to constitute a new three-member board with HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, former NASSCOM chief Kiran Karnik and former SEBI member C Achuthanis expected to restore the confidence of the investors, employees and clients as well.