A myriad issues about Satyam are being written about, and a million words being spoken on television. Speculation rages on how Ramalinga Raju may have carried out the fraud, as much as how much he may have swindled etc. In short, a lot of questions are being raised and right now there are very few answers.

The appointment of a new board by the government has been welcomed by almost everybody. Maybe this is the right thing but I still would have preferred the government had merely invited the largest shareholders to take control of the company. The government action raises the larger question of how far the government should go. To raise just one: should the government guarantee a loan so that Satyam can survive for a few months as it stabilises its core business?

Anyway, a start has been made to keep Satyam alive. To succeed, Satyam would have to do things, and do them quickly.

Topmost would be to retain its blue-chip clientele, especially General Electric, a large customer; and second would be to demonstrate over a short period, maybe as short as 60 days, its ability to deliver to these clients.

Having Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 clients is great but to service them requires a lot of skills and discipline. Right now, many of these clients are, perhaps, thinking of the fastest way out mainly because of the uncertainty. Can today’s Satyam deliver? Will it deliver? Some other clients would be looking at taking their work to another outsourcer like Infosys, which can meet the high standards. And still some will likely be wooed by scores of outsourcers in the country.

It might be reasonable to believe many of the clients will not walk away immediately and might even be persuaded to stay for a short period, subject to assurances of quality and delivery.

Unless the Satyam board can do this, the company will be history or will have to bailed out at huge cost to investors and perhaps, taxpayers.