India, Jan. 10 -- India was rocked by possibly its biggest corporate fraud on January 7 as B Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Satyam Computer Services, resigned after confessing that the company's profits and cash reserves had been doctored for several years. This threatens the image of India's iconic software industry that fuels aspirations for jobs and prosperity among millions of middle-class people.

The revenue figures inflated to keep share prices high and package a shaky business as rosy, revealed a hole well above Rs.7,000 crore and reminded many of the Enron case in the US that led to the conviction of key executives.

The fraud rattled lakhs of employees in the information technology sector and investors already smarting under the im...