Indage Vinters Ltd (IVL), the troubled wine major reeling under pressure as a result of not paying salaries for the last eight months, may face further troubles as the Maharashtra labour ministry is likely to look into the matter.
Nawab Malik, state labour minister, has given assurance to the employees, who submitted a complaint to him three days back, that the ministry would look into the matter and resolve the issue soon. IVL, formerly known as Champagne Indage, controls more than 70% market share of wine produced in India with a consolidated turnover of $100 million.
Last week, a complaint was filed against the managing director and the chairman of Indage at the Worli Police Station. However, following the meeting with employees on Tuesday, MD Ranjit Chougle informed that the salary distribution would get delayed by two more months. It was unacceptable to the employees who are yet to receive their salaries for the last 3-8 months. When contacted, an Indage Vintners Ltd spokesperson said, “As a company policy, we will be unable to comment on it.” Globally, IVL employs more than 750 people and operates in more than 58 countries.
“Maharashtra labour minister has assured us that he will organise a meeting within a few days with Indage Vintners directors to resolve the issue. Nawab Malik has taken employees in confidence and said that he is with them,” said an employee on condition of anonymity.
?Though our top management has been saying that sales have been affected due to recession and that resulted in delay in payment of salaries, production has not been largely affected since November 2008 as the raw material stock was ample and most of the dispatches were on time,? the letter to the minister said.
However, Shamrao Chougle, chairman, IVL, in his letters to employees, said: “The sales channels have nearly collapsed and the production performance has been seriously impacted, which can be attributed to non-availability of materials and other support.” The global economy has tested the giants like GM and Citi and many small enterprises like Indage with same set of challenges,” he added.
IVL, India’s oldest wine company with a production of more than 1.5 million cases per annum, has a product portfolio of more than 40 brands. Globally, IVL owns a 3.5 million case winery called Thachi Wines in South Australia. It also owns and operates, under Indage UK Ltd, a fully integrated wine supply chain management business. Indage UK is an importer, bottler with a capacity of 3.5 million cases and a distributor to more than 4000 outlets in the UK.