Number of leased Centers of 'Satyam' May come down

HYDERABAD: Even as the new Satyam board is set to meet for the first time on Monday, eyebrows are being raised in the real estate circles on whether
the company would continue to operate so many facilities across Chennai and Hyderabad.

"The liquidity situation is very tight. In fact the interim CEO Ram Mynampati did admit to tight cash position in the company. The new board should find ways and means of lining up credit lines to ensure continuity of operations. In such a scenario, I do not foresee the company operating so many fragmented centres," a senior Satyam official confided.

The problems are many. But, the main focus of the new board is to have a new management team which will take care of day-to-day operations. "First priority is to build confidence among the employees. They are the brand ambassadors of the company. Simultaneously, address client issues and assure them of continued high class delivery. These two will take care of the third section, which is the investor community," he said.

Clearly the shoe is beginning to bite. With so many centres across Chennai, Vishakapatnam and Hyderabad, there is bound to be rationalisation of operations, going forward. The company may not have enough resources to pay lease rentals of most of these premises. It is bound to seek time from the owners and even re-negotiate the terms of lease. In worst case, it might just log out of some of these centres. "The owners have little choice. The market is not conducive for any eviction of Satyam and then find a new tenant," a real estate consultant said.

Satyam, unlike Wipro or Infosys, operates mainly from leased premises. Infact its half a dozen centres in Chennai and an equal number in Hyderabad are all leased operations.

In Chennai city , it has one 40,000 square feet centre in GN Chetty Road, another 80,000 sq ft in Nandanam, two in OMR with a cumulative area of 2.5 lakh square feet, one behind the DMK party headquarters with 60,000 square feet and one more in Alwarpet in CP Ramaswamy Road.

Besides, these, it has also signed up huge 4 lakh square feet centre in Shriram SEZ for which furnishing work is now underway. "Clearly, the Shriram SEZ project is out. Another one where they did development work for World Bank with 1,000 associates in Old Mahabalipuram Road is also gone. This World Bank dedicated centre was spread across 1.20 lakh square feet. This is bound to put pressure on already sagging real estate scene," a real estate consultant tracking the development said.

From Satyam's standpoint, rationalising operations under few buildings can bring better efficiency. "Most of the centres in Hyderabad and Chennai are for dedicated clients. We need to cut costs and that too it must be substantial," Satyam officials said