Several investors in Satyam Computer, the outsourcing giant that announced this week that it had concealed $1 billion in losses, are considering suing PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC, the auditor of the company's doctored accounts, an attorney said today.

Satyam shares fell another 45.5 percent today to 21.75 rupees in Mumbai, on top of an 80 percent plunge Wednesday, when the company's chairman told his board that corporate balance sheets were loaded with "fictitious" assets and "nonexistent" cash.

"PricewaterhouseCoopers would be responsible in certain circumstances. I mean they are supposed to check on the accounts and their audit report is relied upon by various people," said Ravi Nath, a lawyer with the Rajinder Narain law firm, which has been contacted by several investors intending to sue the auditor. "On my first impression PricewaterhouseCoopers needs to answer a few things."

The auditing firm said in the statement that they had worked "in accordance with applicable auditing standards and were supported by appropriate audit evidence."

"Given our obligations for client confidentiality, it is not possible for us to comment upon the alleged irregularities. Price Waterhouse will fully meet its obligations to cooperate with the regulators and others," the statement said.

The international accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers International Ltd., is based in London.

The whereabouts of Satyam's founder and chairman, B. Ramalinga Raju, had been unclear over the last two days, but his lawyer said he was in Hyderabad. Raju, however did not attend a meeting with members of market regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India on Friday "due to some unavoidable reasons," Bharat Kumar, the lawyer said.

Beginning Monday, the Bombay Stock Exchange will replace Satyam with Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd. on India's benchmark Sensex stock index.

Top Satyam executives struggled to reassure investors, employees and clients.

"We are assuring them of our determination to fix this in every which way possible," Mynampati said Thursday, adding the company would cooperate in the fraud investigations.

He said some vendors were still awaiting payment and Satyam was considering "options in terms of outstanding responsibilities."

The company employs 53,000 people - among the 2 million Indians working in the country's booming high-tech industry, which last year brought in an estimated $40 billion. Satyam's clients include a slew of Fortune 500 companies including Nestle, General Electric and Ford Motors.

Mynampati said the company's top executives relied on audited accounts and were "shocked" by Raju's admissions.

The company's Chief financial officer V. Srinivas resigned Thursday.

Meanwhile, Uttapa denied Indian media reports that Satyam was considering firing 10,000 of its 53,000 employees. "There is no such move," she said.

Employee salaries have been paid through December and cleared for the month of January as well, she told The Associated Press.

The Bombay Stock Exchange said late Thursday that it was replacing Satyam on India's 30-member benchmark Sensex stock index effective Monday. It will be replaced by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

The scandal comes at a delicate time for India's information technology companies, which are struggling against a global slowdown and waning economic growth at home. India's IT firms derive 40 percent of their global revenues from financial services clients.

The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, the south Indian state where Satyam is headquartered, wrote Thursday to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to appoint a management team that could restore confidence in the company and help protect its employees and investors.

Holders of the company's U.S.-listed shares - which have been halted from trading on the New York Stock Exchange while regulators investigate - have filed two class action suits against Satyam, the law firms representing the investors said in separate statements.

The suits filed by Vianale & Vianale LLP and Izard Noble LLP allege Satyam and its top executives issued false and misleading financial statements and violated federal securities laws, the statements on their Web sites said.