Videocon’s Aurangabad plant on the verge of employee unrest
Videocon’s largest plant in Aurangabad, Maharashtra is on the verge of an employee outbreak as many of the workers haven’t received their remuneration in the last 10 months.
According to the workers , the plant is almost shut and the production happens only for third-party contractors. The employees have not received their respective salaries or pay for the last 10 months.
- The bankrupt company’s plant has a workforce of around 6,000 and the workers there are uncertain about what the future holds for them.
- The plant, at present, is in contract manufacturing of fridges, washing machines and other electrical appliances, depending on the orders from companies like LG, Philips, Hyundai and Haier.
- The workers said that the plant is not fully operational and it starts operating when there is a third-party order.
- Many of Videocon’s executives left the company when it started defaulting the loans.
- There are three major unions at the Aurangabad plant. The workers also allege that some of the union leaders are merely complying with the management even though they too haven’t received their salaries.
The employees submitted their claims worth Rs 103.5 crore to resolution professional (RP) until May 27. RP received claims of whopping Rs 59,452 crore from financial institutions, besides claims of Rs 57,823 crore from the Dhoot family members for their personal guarantees provided to loan facilities to the company.
Beginning of the end for Videocon?
The financial institutions have claims of Rs 26,673 crore in another bankrupt firm Videocon Telecommunication. SBI has the highest exposure in both the companies- which together comes to around Rs 15,780 crore.
In the last three quarters until December 2018, Videocon Industries posted a total loss of Rs 5,122 crore. The loss was Rs 5,264 crore in 2017-18. For a comparison, during its heydays 10-12 years back, the company had revenues of Rs 10,000 crore and profit of over Rs 800 crore.
The company’s share price is now at less than Rs 2 and it was at Rs 755 in January 2008. Videocon’s present market value of Rs 54 crore is just like the price of any sea-facing apartment in South Mumbai.
