Indage pre-empted the move by the employees to go on an unofficial strike and laid off about 100 employees for an unlimited period. They had not been paid salaries for three weeks. In contrast, the employees of Indage in India have not been paid salary for almost a year; many have been laid off or resigned since then, but the company has not been able to pay the salaries.
The economic situation in the town of Corby in Northamptonshire is so poor that the workers at Indage UK have promised to go back to work tomorrow if they are paid their salaries but some are not confident about the company’s future, according to a report.
On their way out yesterday, engineers and office workers told the Evening Telegraph that weekly workers had not been paid for three weeks and monthly staffs have been waiting a fortnight for their wages.
Last month the company had paid a part of the unpaid salary to some employees in its Mumbai head office because the matter had gone to the labour ministry in Maharashtra.
However, the company is laden with statutory financial liabilities running into millions of rupees, which have further straitjacketed the company as it is unable to sell its wine in most of the important markets like Delhi where it has not been able to get the excise registrations done this year.
In the meantime, the liquid gold as the company liked to call its wine, is turning into dust due to improper storage and the distributors who are owed sums running into millions, not keen to market the products further until their outstanding are cleared.
Ranjit Chougule, MD of Indage Vintners had admitted to delWine about two months ago that the salary to employees was indeed not paid but was quite optimistic that some good news would be forthcoming. However, the good news never came as the company’s efforts to rope in a strategic investor have not fructified so far.
The company had to cancel the purchase of Loxton winery in Australia earlier this year due to financial constraints after postponing the purchase and several releases to the media that it was a mutual decision. The seller eventually sued them and won the case last month when the court ordered Indage to forgo the non-refundable deposit of A$6 m and supply a substantial amount of wine from its Riverland winery Thachi which is primarily a low-end, bulk wine producer. A reliable source in the region has informed delWine that the winery has the instructions to liquidate the stocks at any cost in order to get cash.
Most analysts attribute the crisis due to the downturn in the market. But the company management and the financial jugglery has also been a major cause. Several distributors have commented adversely about the company’s book-policies of the company, already reported in delWine. But our reliable sources confirm that the wine industry in South Australia was perplexed not so much by the export of bulk wine to India, but import of Indian wines into Australia!
DelWine was one of the first in the wine media to report about the possible financial crisis the company could get into, by getting into the international buyout deals. After postponing the closure of the Loxton deal, the company also backed out of the purchase of the second UK winery- the Norwich based Broadland wineries.
However, the erstwhile Corby Distillers and the assets of the sister company Darlington were bought over in June last year and the company became a part of the Indage UK. The deal had saved 120 jobs and is reported to have about two hundred employees, half of which have been retrenched-hopefully temporarily. |