Reiterating that the Satyam accounting fraud would not have an adverse impact on Indias image as an outsourcing destination,Nandan Nilekani,co-chairman of the countrys second largest IT firm,Infosys Technologies on Friday said that the fraud should not be seen in the context of any particular sector or country . Speaking at the Idea Exchange programme of the Express Group,Nilekani termed the Satyam episode as black eye on the entire Indian industry and not just the IT sector,and added that the fiasco is pretty discomforting. Entrepreneurs are the face of modern India,Satyam is a setback to that wave. But,such systemic failures could have happened anywhere in the world. The Ahold scam in Holland,the Madoff scandal in the US,Worldcom,Enron all are of the same kind, he said. Nilekani added that as the world is in the middle of an unprecedented financial crisis,there is a possibility there will be more scams across the world. No country has a monopoly on that, he reiterated. He said that its time for the entire industry to go for an introspection. Drawing a comparison with the recent attacks on Mumbai,he said the magnitude of the strike galvanised people and public opinion towards more awareness and more responsibility. Sad incidents lead to positive outcomes. For one,independent board directors will be more careful while going about their responsibilities, said Nilekani. On being asked about the way to avert such embarrassing situations in the future,he said: as far as fraud and misrepresentation is concerned,there is a need for stronger enforcement of laws and more regulation. However,Nilekani said that the answer to this is not easy as the industry has to put in place controls that are effective without being restrictive in nature.
