NEW DELHI , India ( CNN ) -- The chairman of India 's fourth-largest software-services provider resigned Wednesday after confessing to inflating the company 's profits for years with `` fictitious '' assets and non-existent cash . Satyam Chairman B. Ramalinga Raju . The news sent stocks of the Hyderabad-based Satyam Computer Services into free fall . Stocks plummeted more than 70 percent within hours after the revelation . The major stock index in India -- the BSE SENSEX -- fell 7.3 percent Wednesday . Satyam employs 53,000 people , operates in 65 countries and serves almost 700 companies , including 185 Fortune 500 companies . More than half of its revenue comes from the United States . Satyam Chairman B. Ramalinga Raju said the balance-sheet padding began several years ago to close `` a marginal gap '' between actual operating profit and one reflected in the company 's accounting books . It continued through the years , he said . `` It was like riding a tiger , not knowing how to get off without being eaten , '' Raju said in a letter to the company 's board of directors . Raju said no board member was aware of what he was doing and he did not profit from the inflated accounts . The deception came to light after Raju tried to plug the hole by getting Satyam to buy his son 's construction companies . The acquisition was `` the last attempt to fill the fictitious assets with real ones , '' he wrote in his letter . The deal would have cost Satyam $ 1.6 billion -- but the company 's board vetoed it . Stocks fell following the botched deal . Soon afterward , Raju came clean , saying he was doing so `` with deep regret , and tremendous burden that I am carrying on my conscience . '' Analysts say Satyam is ripe for a takeover , and the government is expected to submit a formal report on the matter Thursday . -- CNN 's Bharati Naik contributed to this report .
News sent stocks of Hyderabad-based Satyam Computer Services plunging . Satyam employs 53,000 people and operates in 65 countries . Chairman B. Ramalinga Raju said balance-sheet padding began years ago . Raju said no board member was aware of what he was doing .