Information reaching here from Alappuzha quoted industry minister Susheela Gopalan as assuring the workers that the revised salaries would be paid from next month. She said the state industries department had received approval from the Bureau of Public Enterprises and the finance department for an additional expenditure of Rs 6 lakh per year to meet the revised- salary expenditure. Scooters Kerala workers will be paid the revised salaries, effective January 1997.

The trade unions' joint-action council convener PR Sudevan said the agreement was reached at a meeting on Monday between the industries minister, the company's managing director PK Sivakumar and union representatives. He said that during the strike, production was not affected.

The union leader said that therevision of salaries was pending since March 1993. The workers and management had reached an agreement on wage revision in June 1997. The proposals, however, were cold-shouldered by the finance department and the Bureau of Public Enterprises because the company was wallowing in the red. The government was unwilling to commit more money to a loss-making firm.

Scooters Kerala's has been a remarkable turnaround story. The company logged profits for the first time in 20 years during the last fiscal. Though accounts for the last fiscal are yet to be finalised, it is estimated that profits will be around Rs 25 lakh on a turnover of Rs 375 lakh. The company targeted a profit of Rs 6 lakh on a turnover of Rs 258 lakh for 1997-98. In the first nine months, it had posted a profit of Rs 11 lakh on a turnover of Rs 280 lakh.

The company has an accumulated loss of Rs 483 lakh. The state government pumped in Rs 70 lakh into Scooters Kerala in 1996-97 to revive it. Together with the financial injection, the managementadopted strict labour discipline enabling a quick turnaround in the company's fortunes. Scooters Kerala posted a turnover of Rs 34 lakh in 1995-96. It more than tripled this in 1996-97 and the company's losses were drastically reduced.

The company was set up in 1976 to assemble the "Vijay" brand of scooters from kits supplied by Scooters India. Within a couple of years, the firm started making losses. A major diversification plan, using Scooters Kerala's equipment was drawn up in 1985. The company's survival, however, was under threat by 1994-95 when ts turnover dipped to an all-time low of Rs 5.7 lakh.

Soon, however, plans to produce mild-steel panels, marine-freight containers and ancillary equipment for units like Kerala Electricals and Bharat Earth Movers turned around the course of the company. Sivakumar had said early this month that the company expected a turnover of Rs 100 crore by 1999-2000.