World Bank bans any business with Wipro, Megasoft

MUMBAI: It’s just not Wipro. From an announcement on the World Bank website, there is one more Indian company (other than Satyam and now Wipro)
that has been deemed ineligible to receive contracts from the World Bank. US based IT service provider, Megasoft Consultants Ltd, which is an associate company of BSE listed Megasoft Ltd, have also been barred for four years since 2007.

The World Bank Group on Monday morning made public the names of all companies that have been debarred from receiving direct contracts from the Bank under its corporate procurement program. This change was made in the interest of fairness and transparency, it said.

Megasoft became the third Indian software vendor to have attracted the bank’s ire, while Nestor Pharmaceuticals and Gap International were non-IT entities. An individual Surendra Singh was barred from doing business with the Bank for violating guidelines.

The bank has barred three companies along with their affiliates under the Bank Group's corporate procurement program.

The ineligible firms are Wipro technologies for 4 years (2007-2011) for providing improper benefits to Bank staff, Megasoft Consultants Ltd. for 4 years (2007-2011) for participating in a joint venture with bank staff while also conducting business with the Bank and Satyam Computer Services, Ltd. for 8 years (2008-2016) for giving improper benefits to bank staff and failing to maintain documentation to support fees charged for its subcontractors.

This change aligns the disclosure practice for companies that provide goods and services directly to the Bank with the current policy governing procurement on Bank financed projects in developing countries.

As per reports the Bank has changed disclosure norms late 2006 which placed all the aforementioned companies under tech scanner in 2007. The bank has also said it will publicly list the names of companies debarred from its corporate procurement on a regular basis henceforth.