In a significant move, the government on Sunday appointed Deepak Parekh, chairman of Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd, NASSCOM's former president Kiran Karnik and former SEBI member C Achuthan as the three musketeers of its choice to guide the software exporter Satyam out from the disaster. The new team is considered as a true combination of experts from banking, IT and law backgrounds.

The new board will hold its first meeting on Monday in Hyderabad. It is learnt that the board meeting would be chaired by Mr. Parekh since he is the senior-most among the three members. The meeting would decide on the future course of action for the company. The government now hopes that the new board would enjoy a free hand in deciding the company's future. It may be here recalled that the appointed members enjoy tremendous credibility in the corporate world.

Apart from the Satyam itself, everyone in the corporate world has welcomed their positions on the board. In its statement Satyam said, “This is a vital stabilising development for Satyam”.

Speaking on this, Som Mittal (President, NASSCOM) said, “We are confident that this will help to ensure business continuity, build confidence and protect the interest of all the stakeholders – the employees, customers and investors.”

Commenting over the new board, Prem Chand Gupta, Minister for Corporate Affairs said that the new directors on the board had been a free hand in deciding the future of the company.

The company employs nearly 53,000 people and has a number of Fortune 500 companies as clients, including Nestle, General Electric and Ford Motors. The government last week had arrested company’s promoters and other leaders for cooking-up financial statements for years.

“The board would provide the necessary vision, along with responsible and accountable leadership to the company, in this hour of crisis. This would be an independent board with full authority to act in the interest of the company, the shareholders and all other stake holders,” said Gupta.  

However, the government had already made it clear that the main aim of the new board would be to restore the company's credibility, customer confidence and employee moral as also to safeguard the interest of investors and other stakeholders.

Meanwhile, Gupta also elucidated that the board had not been mandated to find a buyer for Satyam.

“The board needs some time to bring the state of the affairs of the company back to normal, considering the extent of damage done to the company,” he said.

According to the Companies Act, after superseding the existing board, the government nominee directors have to meet within seven days. The three-member board will have powers to appoint new auditors of the company and also can name a new management, just like a normal board elected by the shareholders of a company.