Mahindra Satyam's Senior Vice President Keshab Panda resigns

Bangalore: Marking another high profile exit from the tainted firm, Keshab Panda, considered an aid of Ramalinga Raju, Senior Vice President in Mahindra Satyam has decided to resign. His resignation has come after U.S. based interim CEO Ram Mynampati had quit two months before following CP Gurnani's appointment as the CEO of the company. Keshab Panda had the responsibility of business development and delivery operations for the Americas.

Rakesh Soni, COO, Mahindra Satyam will take charge of Panda's responsibilities including manufacturing, commercial and services verticals.

Associated with the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services for over a decade and a half, Keshab Panda had replaced Mynampati as the President of commercial and healthcare divisions. Panda has also held various responsibilities in regional business unit (RBU) Europe, manufacturing and automotive (MAG) and the energy and utilities (E&U) verticals.

He was among the 10 member task force to drive the company out from the crisis appointed by Ramalinga Raju in January 2009. Panda had put in his papers to "pursue interests outside the company" few weeks ago, but was asked to remain in the organization till a new order was in place. He is among the other senior leaders including Subu D Subramanian, Head, Automotive Group, Deepak Nangia, Company Head, Australia, Naresh Jhangiani, Global Head, Satyam BPO and Ravi Bommakanti, Head, Delivery, TIMES vertical, U.S. who have quit the company.

The company sources say that "two-in-a-box" model is a possible reason which has triggered members from Ramalinga Raju's regime to quit, but a top Mahindra Satyam official has swept the allegation that the model was only meant for removing the redundancies and keeping a tab on the original team, putting more pressure on the staff to deliver.