I wonder what the fall-out of the Satyam fraud will be for that famed, semi-mythical figure, Davos Man (and Woman)?

B. Ramalinga Raju was definitely one of those global types who throng the halls of the World Economic Forum in Davos annually. His photograph can be seen in last year’s booklet of attendees, which I have to hand (disclosure: I am in it too).

Furthermore, as the FT points out this morning:

Last November, he co-chaired the World Economic Forum summit in New Delhi, appearing on almost every panel and talking of the need for a paradigm change on how the outsourcing industry is run.

There is no reason why Klaus Schwab, founder of the WEF, or members of its staff, should have realised that Mr Raju was up to no good. However, the episode’s effect on the Indian outsourcing industry has knock-on effects for Davos.

The Indian presence at Davos, driven by large companies such as Wipro and Infosys, has increased markedly in recent years. For example, Wipro gives a dinner (disclosure: I have been invited to it) and there is a”Bollywood Night” at a local club.

One of the co-chairs of the Davos meeting at the end of this month is Anand Mahindra of Mahindra & Mahindra.

More generally, the Indian companies seemed to embody the Davos ethos - the idea that a “flat world” of free trade and economic integration will not only benefit the west, but bring prosperity to emerging economies.

That notion helped Davos to recover its spirits from the anti-globalisation protests of the late 1990s. The Satyam fraud does not invalidate that, but it may take some of the gloss away from the India/Davos axis.

January 8, 2009 5:06pm in Business | Comment