Kiran Karnik's name doing rounds as nominee for Satyam Board

The government is considering Kiran Karnik, former chief of software industry body Nasscom, as one of the independent directors on the Boardofcrisis-ridden Satyam Computer Services.

Sources close to development said Karnik could be one of the 10 nominee directors to be appointed by the government. Following the crisis in the Hyderabad-based company, the government disbanded its existing board and proposed to appoint 10 nominee directors to manage the company.

When contacted, Karnik said: "I have no knowledge about this. As of now Ihave not been contacted by anyone in this regard."
 
The nominee members, official sources said, would be from various fields such as law, finance, IT and insurance. Besides, representatives from RBI, SEBI and LIC are also
expected to join the new board of Satyam.
 
According to Corporate Affairs minister P C Gupta, the first meeting of the new board of Satyam will take place within a week of reconstitution of the Board. The new board, the minister said, will also take a view on the management of the company.

Names of HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh and IIM-A professor Jayant Varma are also being tipped to join the new board ofthebattered IT firm. Karnik, former president of Nasscom, was the managing director at Discovery Networks in India from 1995-2001. He spearheaded the launch of Discovery Channel in South Asia in August 1995 and Animal Planetin 1999. Karnik has worked for over 20 years with the Indian Space Research Organisation .