The chairman of Satyam Computer Services, India's fourth-largest software services exporter, resigned yesterday, disclosing that profits had been falsely inflated for years and sending its shares tumbling nearly 80%. Ramalinga Raju unsuccessfully tried to sell two companies to Satyam last month in a final attempt to plug $1.03bn of 'fictitious' cash on the company's balance sheet, he wrote in a letter to the company's board. Profits have been inflated for 'several years', he said.