World Bank being unfair to Wipro: Assocham

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has extended all support to Wipro, saying that India Inc backs the leading software company as in its view Wipro did nothing wrong in offering its shares to World Bank employees during its US IPO in 2000.

The World Bank decision was improper since there were hardly any corporate governance guidelines in 2000 which Wipro violated to offer its shares and therefore barring it for procurement of World Bank contracts on minor technical issues did not make any sense, Assocham secretary-general D S Rawat said in a statement.

''The Assocham takes pride in its association with Wipro as the company has evolved highest standards of business ethics in all its dealings as it is well known that Wipro, TCS, Infosys etc are the corporate houses in India which are emulated by many lead companies and linking it with Satyam Computer is totally unfair,'' it said.

The Satyam Computer case, according to Assocham, is an isolated case for which the chamber said, it has already suggested setting up of a separate task force to investigate fudging of accounts in it. (See: Wipro among 111 global firms debarred by World Bank)