Kenexa-IBM merger: Indian arm sues US parent over land

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Dec 3, 2012: In a rather bizarre turn of events, the Indian subsidiary of the US based IT multinational firm Kenexa Corporation has challenged its parent company’s decision to handover a major chunk of government-allotted land at Madhurawada SEZ in Visakhapatnam to AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC).

“How can they change land agreement without our authorization as the APIIC has reached an agreement with us? No changes can be made without our consent,” Anita Sakuru, a director of Kenexa Technologies Pvt Ltd (KTPL), told this correspondent.

The parent firm had offered to restore 21 acres out of 25 allotted to I by APIIC at Madhurawada Special Economic Zone.

Ms Sakuru on Monday approached the sub registrar of Madhurawada, filing a protest petition requesting him not to register any document affecting the lease deed.

The APIIC, however, doesn’t seem to be ready to entertain the Sakurus. Sources said the APIIC would be taking back around 22 acres of allotted to KTPL in a day or two since it had failed to provide jobs as promised during the allotment of land in 2008. 

“KTPL promised to create 2,500 jobs. But they managed to provide only 384. After repeated notices, we will be taking back the remaining unused land of 21 acres. We had taken back the land allotted even from Indian IT giants such as Wipro after they failed to keep up the promise of job creation,” a senior official of APIIC, told this correspondent.

KTPL managing director Raghuveer Sakuru and director Anita Sankuru have also filed a case  in the city civil courts in Hyderabad seeking an order to restrain ist parent its parent Kenexa Corporation from merging its Indian subsidiary with IBM as part of a global corporate decision. The court had adjourned the matter to Dec 31.