BJP worker files complaint after KPMG employee barges into his office to check software

Microsoft Corp is not auditing how its partner KPMG cracks down on illegal use of Microsoft software in India, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The denial comes after a prior claim made by an executive of the U.S. technology giant following a client complaint in March.

Microsoft runs a global “software asset management” (SAM) programme under which it partners with global consultants such as KPMG in India. Under that programme, KPMG seeks permission from business owners to check for the use of unlicensed software.
Reuters reported earlier this month that Microsoft had begun probing KPMG’s work in India after a member of Bharatiya Janata Party, Vinit Goenka, complained to both companies that a KPMG employee had “barged in” to his Mumbai recruitment firm without an appointment to check its software last month.

Following the incident, a senior Microsoft India executive, Rajiv Sodhi, wrote to Goenka and apologised, saying Microsoft was “getting an assessment agency to carry out an audit of the process delivery at KPMG to identify and correct gaps, if any,” according to an e-mail reviewed by Reuters.
“When a customer complains to us about a process issue they may have experienced, Microsoft and KPMG take the concern seriously and address appropriately through process review and gap assessment, if any,” the companies said in the joint statement.