Mahindra Satyam posts profit in Q1 and Q2

BANGALORE, INDIA: India's Mahindra Satyam on Monday posted net profit for the first and second quarters of fiscal 2011, in the first quarterly reports since it was hit by India's biggest corporate fraud in 2009.

For the fiscal second quarter ended September 30, net profit narrowed to 233 million ($5.2 million) on sales of 12.42 billion rupees. For the fiscal first quarter ended June 30, its profit stood at 975 million rupees, on revenue of 12.48 billion rupees.

Satyam stunned investors in January 2009 when its former chairman and founder Ramalinga Raju said profits had been overstated and assets falsified in a fraud allegedly worth over $1.5 billion.

Tech Mahindra, which bought Satyam in April 2009 and is operating it as an independent company, had said in September it can only start the process of merging Satyam into the parent after announcing its quarterly results.

Mahindra Satyam, which once ranked as India's No. 4 outsourcing firm, in September for the first time unveiled its financials to report a net loss of 1.25 billion rupees for the fiscal year ended March 2010.

For fiscal 2009, it reported a loss of 81.77 billion rupees.