Satyam wins 5 year GSK extension

The business process outsourcing (BPO) unit of Indian IT services firm Mahindra Satyam has had its contract with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) renewed for another five years.

The Hyderabad-headquartered company has provided the UK pharmaceutical major with logo, production and promotional graphic artwork design services on and off for the last five years.

CEO Vijay Rangineni said: "This contract renewal is a reaffirmation of the faith placed by GSK in Mahindra Satyam BPO,” adding that the firm aims to provide GSK with a fully integrated cost effective scalable [service].”

According to a report in the Economic Times GSK cited Satyam’s integrated partnership approach, focus on productivity, quality performance and ability to scale up production as the basis for the contract renewal.

The extended deal also suggests that Satyam’s reputation has significantly recovered from the scandal that broke last year after former chairman Ramalinga Raju admitted he had overstated the company’s profits.

At the time, most industry observers predicted that the case would cost the firm its BPO and IT contracts with both GSK and Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis.

Further evidence of this recovery is demonstrated by caliber of the new industry customers Satyam is starting to attract as clients, which include some major players in the drug production sector.

For example, in early May the firm landed an “off-shoring” contract with the IT services unit of German chemicals manufacturer BASF, under which it is providing SAP, messaging and groupware management services.

According to CXOtoday, BASF selected Mahindra Satyam against strict evaluation criteria following an "exhaustive due diligence process." The firm, which did not release financial terms of the agreement, said that the contract is for three year period with a twice-yearly extension option.