The initial investigations by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) into the Satyam scam has revealed that apart from other companies, HDFC Mutual Fund on January 2 offloaded 50 lakh Satyam shares.
Satyam’s price averaged Rs 177 on that day, still on its way up from the lows it had touched just a few weeks earlier, but several times the price it would be commanding just a week later, when the price fell to Rs 6.3 on January 9.
On January 5, two days before Raju’s ‘‘confession’’, ILFS Financial Services also opted out, selling 35 lakh shares on a day when the price averaged Rs 168.22.
Corporate affairs minister P C Gupta said the priority for the government was to protect the interest of the over 3 lakh shareholders, employees and Satyam’s clients, both domestic and overseas. Asked to comment on the fallout of the episode for the credibility of India Inc, the minister insisted that Satyam was an “aberration
