Wipro can apply for vendor status: WB

NEW DELHI: The World Bank on Thursday said Wipro is now eligible to apply for becoming a vendor, as the four-year ban imposed on the software major ended this month.

"Wipro has served their full four-year sanction period (June 13, 2007 to June 12, 2011) for the sanctionable practice of providing improper benefits to Bank staff," a World Bank spokesperson said from Washington.

The multilateral lender had banned Wipro in June 2007 from doing business with the group under its corporate procurement programme. The ban, however, came to light only in January 2009.

Wipro had denied allegations of providing improper benefits to Bank staff.

The spokesperson said Wipro till date has indicated its ongoing interest in doing business with the World Bank, "but they are not in discussions with us".

"Wipro has not reapplied for vendor status with the Bank; however, should they do so, the Bank's own vendor registration process will evaluate their eligibility with an appropriate level of diligence applied to the issue of governance," he said.

Queries to Wipro on whether the company is interested to become a vendor again remained unanswered. "Our inability to get future business from the World Bank will not adversely affect our business and results of operations," Wipro had said after the debarment was made public.

The World Bank had banned Wipro after finding that the company was "non-responsible" under the group's vendor eligibility policy.

In the latest list of "non-responsible vendors", there are eight Indian entities, including Satyam Computer Services and Megasoft Consultants.