India's software outsourcer Mahindra Satyam on May 17 said it had swung into net profit for the three months to March, from a net loss a year earlier. Satyam posted a net profit of 5.34 billion rupees ($98 million) for the quarter. It had posted a net loss of 3.27 billion in the same period a year earlier, hit by the cost of a one-off US lawsuit.
The Hyderabad-based Satyam stunned corporate India in 2009 when its founder B. Ramalinga Raju admitted he had for years overstated profits and inflated the balance sheet by more than $1 billion. The scandal nearly pushed Satyam into bankruptcy but its new owner Tech Mahindra, part of Indian auto and farm equipment manufacturer Mahindra and Mahindra, has managed to turn things around.
Mahindra Satyam and Tech Mahindra have said that they will merge soon. "We continue to make steady progress in our transformational journey," Vineet Nayyar, chairman of Mahindra Satyam, said in a press statement. "Our results for the past three years and the quarter are a vindication of our growth strategy and the fighting spirit in the company."
Satyam added a net 1,073 employees in the quarter, to bring total staff numbers to 33,353. In the quarter, the firm bagged a deal from a large state-run Middle-Eastern organisation for its infrastructure services.