Wipro may suffer due to World Bank disclosure
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 25 May 2009, 15:49 IST   |    10 Comments
Printer Print Email Email
Wipro may suffer due to World Bank disclosure
New York: India's IT major Wipro has informed its American shareholders and market regulator Securities and Exchange Commission that its businesses could be "adversely" affected due to the disclosure made by World Bank nearly four months ago that the company was ineligible to work with the international lending institution. Wipro has warned that its existing and potential customers could alter their business relationship with the firm due to the "negative publicity" from the disclosure. In a disclosure about ineligible firms in January this year, World Bank had barred Wipro from any direct contract with it for a period of four years, starting June 2007, and cited "providing improper benefits to Bank staff" as the reason. However, after the World Bank disclosure, Wipro had said in a regulatory filing on January 13, 2009, that its revenue from World Bank was insignificant and its inability to get future business from World Bank will not adversely affect its business. While the World Bank's debarment came into effect way back in June 2007, it was disclosed nearly one-and-half years later in January 2009. For its action, the bank had charged Wipro of providing improper benefits to its staff, which was contested by Wipro. The debarment of Wipro coincided with the disclosure about two other Indian IT firms - Satyam and Megasoft. Satyam was debarred for eight years, starting September 2008, while Megasoft was debarred for four years, beginning December 2007.

siliconindia