Thursday, January 8, 2009

SATYAM-- is it?

yesterday was the worst day of my life. I cant believe it that I bought Satyam just one hour before the mayhem. But who could have thought or imagin even that even books are fake, accounts are fake, and one of the esteemed auditors have either bungled or co-operated at the cost of Junta. My bro didnt want me to buy, but then my H thought that they have so much of cash reserve and all that....... and lo...........everything fell like nine pins. I am a very minuscule investor, but think about the other hundresds of investors/ whats happening in India. With a set frequency we are loosing our hard earned money, First there was harshad mehta in 92-93, then after 5 yrs we had parekh............then again after 5 yrs we had the biggest fall in the market.....,and then there was this CRB..where even govt sanctioned tax rebate also on deposits,and many other finance companies gone bust........How long and how many mishaps will it take to make the govt. and SEBI work, may be its time investors thought of some guidelines or some safety mechanism,I wonder what is it which makes these businessmen cheat with elan and impunity of a rich man,I cant sleep for a night even, if somebody gets ruined by any of my actions and they are ruining the country without any remorse whatsoever, they are worse than the politicians even, something is wrong with the moral fabric of society, its time to take proper measures in all directions.
Most of the youth crib about everything Indian, but when it comes to enter the system, they shy away citing it as a mess...but we need some people to clear the mess also.
You cannot solve a problem until you acknowledge that you have one and accept responsibility for solving it.
Yesterday I dont know why, but I felt very sad, it was neither the first time I lost, nor the amount was too big, but may be it hurt me for multiple reasons and biggest one was that.......it was a real scam..everything fake, this way we cant trust anybody.....tomorrow suppose any other big house collapses like that then.....should we stop investing or stop doing business?----all the Tv channels were advising like big brother..invest carefully...take all the info etc...info my foot, where were they before/ none said anything about it? How does an investor know about any company..by the auditor's verdict....balance sheet...what else?
So its true...Life is all about correcting mistakes.....but how?

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

sad.. my shares crashed big time.. 7000 crores... i cant digest this at all...

Jiggy said...

sorry that you invested in Satyam renu, but honestly with all that the company was going through, you shouldn't have...specially in times like these....when bad things only become worse and never improve...
yes, PwC would have to face severe legal action....it is unimaginable how they could have approved figures which were way off mark...
but it is not only india which gets affected by things like these...we shouldn't forget enron and worldcom and more recently, Madoff (USD 50 billion fraud is really something!!!)....and satyam still had fudged accounts...but madoff was running a frikkin Ponzi scheme...he had NO real assets at all...and banks like Santander and HSBC had exposure to his funds...

Renu said...

Chriz; Pl enlighten me:) what u cant digest? my post or scam?

Rebel: with me it was destiny,a freak accident, only if I was watching CNBC, i wud have saved something, but am more sad or shud I say sadder because this is happening regularly and still there are no guidelines or safety mechanism in place.
Thats why once i asked you to write something on financial subjects also:)
enjoying the tea and fog and ma ka khaana:)

Anonymous said...

They are saying it's India's biggest corporate scam!It's being touted as India's Enron moment.. 7000 crores is realllllllllly unbelievable!

I feel sad for everybody associated with Satyam, particularly the 50,000-plus employees of Satyam..esp freshers!

Dhirubhai is a quintessential story of rags to riches but even he made money the wrong way..thre r so many such fraudulent stories..but this one is the biggest scam ever!

I am still wondering wht made Raju confess???

Renu said...

Raju must have stored most of the money, plus must have made on crash also(thru put option).
there are not many rags to riches story which are genuine, or made money through right way.....about......, every second month there is a story of evading some tax,....kuch din halla hota ha, baad me sab bhool jaate hain, aur officials kis liye bhool jaate hain yeh ham sab jaante hain.

Jiggy said...

Renu, I don't really write about financial stuff as my blog mostly deals with my personal life. But I would try. And you know about put options (derivatives etc.)?!!!
I am really really impressed. :)
I was shocked when I came home this time cos my mom knew sooooo much about finance. Right from which indices belong to which countries to how the crisis unfolded etc...god...she knew a lot of stuff. I was so happy. Guess when children are in a particular profession, moms (specially indian moms) read up a lot on that as well. Hehe. My mom loves watching CNBC now. She has overtaken my dad when it comes to knowledge about the financial world. hahaha. :D
And yessss...enjoying maa ka khaana a lot. :D Sis flying back tomorrow, so uske baad will meet up with my friends in Delhi. Has been a wonderful vacation till now, and hope it remains that ways. :)

Pixie said...

*Sigh*
I can't watch the News anymore... the situation is so depressing...
Holding on to our jobs seems to be the biggest achievement this last quarter...
i hope things get better... and I am sorry that you invested your money in their stocks...
My cousin works there and is very worried about his job since his wife is stay-at-home...

DeeplyDip said...

the news was a shocking one - how could the auditors, the brokers, reporters, merchant bankers, lead bankers and everyone else studying the balance sheet and investing in the company missed it? And they missed it big time! There was a huge outcry when he tried to buy his son's company maytas...I do not totally blame Raju for this. No one questioned the figures they presented and it is difficult to know exactly whome to blame here...

SMRITI said...

Renu, I know what you mean.. I endured torturous days at the CA firm I worked at, facing a lot of ridicule for not willing to do things "their way", jibes of being a "bad auditor" when I said I'll follow the book and not my boss, everyday was a living hell for me and another friend who stuck by me throughout it all. After two years, we finally figured out that yes there was a huge huge problem in here and we need more people to work at it...sadly we being underpaid interns/articled students at well known CA firms, whatever concerns we raised were immaterial. Our voices were muffled with talks of ruining our careers in a way that we wouldnt be able to write our CA papers...after all, they are qualified CAs who matter more to the ICAI than interns like us who are just "tickers" for the qualified ones.

I discontinued for want of a better way to tackle this... I am still on the lookout for one...media was something I was always passionate about, AND I agree that they are looking for sensationalism these days. I bet some of them had the info and they didnt let it out...they have their vested interest too. I feel sad for the employees and the investors. I really wish that we can all do something about it...money isnt everything after all.

Piper .. said...

I confess I have no idea about the share market. And hence am scared when people invest their hard-earned money in stocks. I dont know what to say to you Renu, to cheer you up. But I sure hope you`ll be more careful henceforth. After all its your hard-earned money. Hugs. Now cheer up!

Mana said...

Probably, you should've waited before investing. Its not the right time to invest in any stuffs at present, IMHO. By Q4, don't know how many companies might file bankruptcy.

Heard about credit card crunches also.

Mana said...

Probably, you should've waited before investing. Its not the right time to invest in any stuffs at present, IMHO. By Q4, don't know how many companies might file bankruptcy.

Heard about credit card crunches also.

OG said...

There is this one sure shot method I use to never loose money in stock markets:
"NEVER INVEST IN THEM"....
and I live by these words....
best of luck to you in the future :)

Renu said...

Rebel:Hehe--I dont know much about put options, just heard the name,The irony is that i belong to family of share brokers and still i lost:) and keep loosing:)
BTW mothers are always better at Finance:) In my family CNBC is fav. of my H. and whatever I knw about you from ur blog u must be a very lovable son:), so mummy has to do that:)
!

and Insha.allah ur whole trip will be the same..enjoable:)

PIXIE: yeah scene is very depressing all around and I am wondering about other companies now:(
keep the fingers crossed and hope for the best !

Renu said...

Deeplydip: I dont believe at all that they misse, because there is no question of missing, u see..once a certain bank balance is shown in the books ,they are supposed to croos check that with bank balance sheet, but they didnt do it, its simplty staring us in the eye.....corruption, money at the cost of innocent people.

Piper; Thank Piper for your kind words. I feel sad for the loss but so much, as for this scam..because if this is the way people are being cheated, what is left then?

manasa; yeah u r right, but it was quite unexpected. Hope that better times come soon:)

Shishir; Thank for dropping here ! ot has put a black spot on Indian IT industry.....aur sab ko katghare me khada kar diya, now none is above suspicion, very bad for India and its industrial reputation:(

Ajit; Inaction is not a good action:), its like stopping to live for the fear of getting hurt:)

Renu said...

Smriti: I admire you, never loose ur faith or bearings. may be as an student, you couldnt face them, but once you become a full fledged CA, U can do wonders.
Life is nothing without hurdles, and problems are always there in all professions and one gets lot of stress, so why not endure all that but for the right cause.
Its not that those who succumb to the pressure dont have any problems in their jobs, they will have, but of a different type, thats it.
In my book..those who live by principles only live, rest only pass the time.

Amrita said...

hmmmm well... wht raju claims is tht he did it all for the well being of the cpy, to ensure clients remained et al.. he nor ne of the board members took any money for personal usage...
hmm... thts wht the letter sent by him which i got as an email fwd states... hmmm
well shares i stay away from them... had been bred by my dad to b slow but safe :)

ULIPS and ELSS are some things do sometimes...

hmmm and indian govt agencies are pretty incompetent.. world bank black listed satyam on 25/12 but still it was not enuf to push sebi into action - it was only when raju confessed tht they started up - they are too lazy to move

but the enron scam and the arthur anderson fallout brought in a lottttt of stringent stuff....
even though i was with the IT div of an auditing firm which happened to b in the big 4, we had to uphold ethics more thn our lives.... ethical biz conduct was drilled into our heads nearly daily... i hope this satyam thingy will bring in such stringent laws for the Indian IT sector as well.....

as usual hoping for light at the end of the tunnel :)

boy! this was one long comment i think.. hope u dont doze off in the middle of it :D

Salomie said...

When I told my mom about this fiasco, she just had one thing to say: she was wondering how such people manage to sleep at night, knowing they've duped so many innocent people.

As with most other areas, I feel we have all the possible laws in place, its only that they are rarely implemented. What is needed now is some severe punishment and that too given fast, otherwise people don't feel afraid of doing such horribly wrong things and then who knows, tomorrow some other idiot will feel he can also get away with such frauds.

sansmerci said...

sorry renu.. i was feelin shocked hearin this too.. i don invest n dono much bout finance already tho... be careful ... the world is not a safe place always so much i kno

Sukku said...

Renu sorry to hear that you got your fingers burnt on Satyam shares. It's ironical...SATYAM...actually means truth...and what Satyam did was a scam...

When I was in Hyderabad...what I noticed on the Public listed companies was that there wasn't any proper Corporate Governance...and companies were run on a family orientated style...

starry said...

It is really sad.I don't know with what conscience people can do this.All over the world the market is so unstable.Lost a lot of money in the stock market to and still loosing.

Renu said...

Amrita: See what acheat can say that he cheated...and he is putting noble intentions to such a big scam, but now the cover is blown.
Stocks are not bad thing as such, rather every financial planner will tell u to invest in stocks to beat the inflation.I lost here not because of anything else, but my fault..didnt research at all, and thats what trobled me..I hate doing mistakes.
No, I never get bored with lengthy comments..rather they show me the way:)

Shalom: I think whatevr laws we make Shalom, but crime needs a double sided move...like some moral education also....one must have a conscience.

Renu said...

Sansmerci; Thank u for ur concern !But this is life and one must learn to invest wisely, otherwise we cant live a life of retirement peacefully.

Sukku;Its the biggest irony that they name it Satyam and there is no truth here:(

Starry nights: Some people just have no conscience, otherwise nobody can live after destroying so many.

Anonymous said...

Oops Sorry bout your loss :) (Am smiling bçoz. i'm not invested in Satyam) But anyways, I heard, there's been a call for all deals done on the 7th of January to be voided... Unlikely it may happen but if it does, you'll be happy again :)

Anyways, Is there a lesson here to be learnt? I don't think so coz. ppl invested on the basis of audited financial results and that's the best they can do.

On a diff. note, read my post about Satyam goes to bollywood to make u forget ur loss :)

Anonymous said...

Honesty is rare these days but it is most valuable if found.

Sandhya said...

Renu, the Sathyam episode is going to make negative impact on people who think that IT companies are good for investments.

Raju must have done all the backoffice work, cleaning of papers, etc., he did not want the raiding officials to find out. Then surrendered leasuirely at his own convenience! Their 53 thousand employees were also inflated like the Company's cash reserves, they say. Bloated number of associates were shown. Every board member or associate of Sathyam will be seen as a culprit by their friends and families, whether they are involved or not.

Like ENRON auditors, Sathyam auditors (PwC) also will go into oblivion for sometime and pop up after 2-3 years!

My husband loves to watch CNBC and Zee business and is an active investor. So I am familiar with the stock market. He has got a very small no. of Sathyam shares!

This post and the comments for it, are very interesting, Renu.

SR said...

Oh! really sorry u invested in Satyam - I hope you didn't loose too much. But a point of view in this problem, it can also be seen as a man trying to save the company he started with just 23 employees and grew to 63000. He probably kept doing whatever necessary to keep it afloat and it went awry......now he has been painted a fraud. It does not justify what he did, but maybe his line of though was not scamming...

Sandhya said...

Renu, I and my husband also feel like what SR has said in your blog. My husband also started his business with just Rs.35,000, 25 years back. Though it has not grown to the Sathyam range, it has come up quite well. If because of a small or big mistake, his company gets into some problem, he might try his best to pull it back. In the Sathyam case, the firm has become too huge, where a single person may not be able to bring it back. We still do not know 100% if he and his associates siphoned off the money or whether they took the wrong step for correction, from the beginning, when the problem started.

So many people have been affected by his mistake and his life is doomed. And the life of his family too.

Cess said...

sorry to hear it Renu!i don t know where all that financial crisis is gonna drive us ;(

Renu said...

Rakesh: Thanks for visiting me, hope to see you here more often:)
I was not so sad for personal loss, as I said earlier, my H keeps doing it:), BUT becuase of the mangitude of scam and and the way it was done hoodwinking all or sould I say that all the regulatory authorities are always found in a deep slumber, wake up only in distress.
and now going to read you rpost:)

Sandhya: Sandhya..I think stock market is one thing where everyone must take some interest--its the lifeline of country's economy and barometer also.
I dont have much only few, but saddening is the feeling that today people have lost their conscience completely..its only ourown integrity which keeps the senility in life, if we loose that....what is there to look forward to......

SR: No Sr, that is not a point of voiew at all, becuse he has siphoned away the money,as u must be knowing now, searching parties coundnt find a single bank statement in the offices, they have been alltaken away by Raju, what he is saying...sounds so childish...nobody makes a co. like this...by taking investors and their money for a complete royal ride...no...he is the biggest scamster of our times. period.

Cess: No i didnt loose much but still these things are not good:(

Renu said...

HOBO: so true.

Sandhya:....I know one thing only..two wrongs nevr make a right..even if he started dioing it for his employess...I wouldnt say that its right to hurt50000 people to save 25ooo..its the same as for saving YOUR fasmily u can do a theft or robbery and say we have done it for our family......rights and wrong stay where they are, perspectives..whatever may be.

Sandhya said...

Renu, I read about the bank statements absconding. I feel it is the mistake of the associates, auditors, bankers, Raju, everyone who is involved. But only one person is projected out. All of them should be behind bars. Otherwise, it IS the biggest scam till date in our country.

One of my relative is engaged to a Sathyam employee, who is/was earning One lakh per month. Now, don't know what is going to happen. The girl's side might reject or the boy's side might say 'girl's bad luck'!

Somebody will takeover Sathyam and it will bounce back, my husband says. It might take sometime, till then, the employees will be the most affected. The shareholders who borrow money and invest will also be affected. Hope for the best, Renu.

Renu said...

Sandhya; You are right and there will be many npeople involved and slowly slowly everything will come out in the open.
As fas as marriage is concern...if the boy/s side think that girl is unlucky, then the girl woud be better off without such family, and if girl' side reject, then they dont desrve the boy, because these things ar epart of life anf marriage is always for better or worse..but always together..a girl who leaves her companion at such time, she can never be a good life partner...but yes for marriage they must wait till he gets another job to sustain the family.

In 98 also many shares came into the scam and they nevr bounced back to the same glorey, some like Silver technologies,vision technology etc delisted completely and many like Zee tele, Ukogawa,HFCl etc. all traded at the 10% of thier value. So I feel that ivestors will be the real sufferers, as for the employess, they will get a job sooner or later.

Destination Infinity said...

I think it is not very hard to be straight forward and ethical in business. On the long run, it would turnout much more beneficial than the short term money that one hopes to gain by cheating. But the way market and organizations function, it is appalling to note that very few people have the trust on such virtues. More than all that, even though they see the vicious circle themselves, they believe that they are clever enough to get away after cheating.

Destination Infinity

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