There was some positive news for Satyam Computer Services employees on Monday, as three of its biggest clients - Nestle, Nissan and CIBA – have assured that they will continue to do business with the firm.

"Clients such as Nestle and Nissan has already expressed their confidence in the company and had assured us that they will continue with us," an official privy to the development told news agency PTI.

Analysts had feared that after the acquisition of the firm by Tech Mahindra clients of Satyam who were sitting on the fence would jump to other vendors. However, the opposite seems to be happening, as post acquisition several companies have expressed confidence in the entity and pledged to continue doing business with them.

Moreover, the UK, Switzerland and Germany, which had earlier imposed strict visa norms for Satyam employees, have eased them.

Nestle, a multi-million dollar SAP client of Satyam, gave some additional business last month after watching the developments. Satyam provides application management to Nissan. CIBA is another of its SAP clients which has expressed confidence in the company.

Satyam's government appointed chairman Kiran Karnik noted that it still got some new clients despite some clients defecting from it.

Satyam Computers plunged into crisis after its founder B Ramalinga Raju in January admitted to have cooked the books of the company for year. In April, information technology firm Tech Mahindra announced that it was acquiring a 51 per cent stake in the beleaguered firm for Rs2,900 crore.

'Scam was almost artistic'
Former Securities and Exchange Board chairman M Damodaran said on Saturday that had it not been fraudulent, the way things were manipulated for over seven years in IT major Satyam Computer could be considered a "work of art".

''Were it not for a dishonest purpose, the planning and execution to the smallest detail would be a work of art," he said at a gathering of chief executive officers hosted by CEO Clubs, a business network organisation, in New Delhi.

Damodaran, who is on the board of software firm Tech Mahindra, which made the successful bid for Satyam, said the fraud at Satyam was "unique" and he believes it is an isolated case, not reflective of the state of affairs in the industry.

He skirted a query on the major takeaways for the market regulator SEBI after the Satyam fiasco, saying he retired as the SEBI chief months before the scam broke.

Damodaran, who is also the ING Group's chief representative and adviser in India, however, said the idea should be to catch some of the big frauds and punishment should be swift and fast to act as a deterrent for others.

He cited the comparative examples of stock market scamster Harshad Mehta and rogue banker Nick Leeson. While the courts sat on the case till Mehta himself died, Leeson was arrested, served the punishment, released, wrote a book and started afresh, he said.