INTERVIEW - Mahindra Satyam adds clients, says worst over

By Tony Munroe

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - IT services firm Mahindra Satyam has added 35 new clients since April 13 and lost just a handful, said the firm's chief executive, adding that the worst was behind it and that spending by key customer groups was improving.

Mahindra Satyam, earlier known as Satyam Computer Services, was acquired by Tech Mahindra in April after the firm was hit by India's biggest corporate fraud, which came to light in January.

"I do believe that we are now stable from a customer, or a delivery perspective," C.P. Gurnani told Reuters TV on Sunday.

"I am very, very clear that the bottom is behind us and we are back on a path to recovery," he added in the interview on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum event in New Delhi.

He said the company, which lost 25 to 30 percent of its customers between January and Tech Mahindra's agreement to take over the firm on April 13, had since then added 35 new customers and, to his knowledge, lost just three.

"These 35 logo accounts have come from emerging markets, the Middle East and Africa, and we have also added some clients in the U.S. and Europe," Gurnani said.

The firm had about 380 customers when Tech Mahindra won an auction to take it over, said Gurnani, who was president of international operations at Tech Mahindra before taking over at Mahindra Satyam.

Tech Mahindra, a unit of tractor and utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra, owns about 43 percent of Mahindra Satyam.