Even as the month of November draws to end, the managements of the many garments companies in Gurugram are worried about wage payments to their thousands of workers without bank accounts.
Vipin Kumar Gupta, Assistant Vice-president, Personnel and Industrial Relation Department, Matrix Clothing Private Limited, has been exploring various options for the past few days to make wage payment to around 500 workers not having bank accounts in his company. He has directed these workers to get their accounts opened before November 30 and also trying hard to get opened their bank accounts with company's existing five bankers besides exploring the possibility of transferring the wages through Paytm accounts as the last resort. “I have written an email to the Paytm to explore the possibility of transferring the wages of workers without bank accounts to their Paytm accounts. But if the money is transferred to the Paytm account of a worker without a bank account, they would not be able to withdraw it for their daily expenses. So this might not work,” said Mr. Gupta. Also, the company might issue the bearer cheques to non-bank account holder workers if nothing works.
Matrix Clothing Private Limited has a workforce of around 4,500 workers, but not all of them have bank accounts. “More than 85 per cent our workers have bank accounts and the wages are transferred to their accounts every month. But at least 10-15 per cent of workers are replaced every month for various reasons. Most of these new workers coming from remote areas do not have documents to open bank accounts. And we face more difficulties in case of those joining towards the end of the month. So they need to be paid in cash,” explained Mr. Gupta.
With the government putting a Rs.50,000 per week cap on withdrawal of cash from current accounts, Mr. Gupta said making cash payments was difficult this time around. “We need a big amount of money every month to make wage payments alone in cash. But it is not just possible to do it this time with Rs.50,000 per week cap on current accounts withdrawals,” said Mr. Gupta. Besides, the company also needs cash for other day to day petty expenses such as local conveyance or pocket money during travelling to their employees and other minor repairs and maintenance expenses. “Just as you cannot pay plumber and electrician through cheques at homes, the company also needs cash for routine expenses. But all this is badly hurt. And the situation is not likely to improve the next few months at least,” said Mr. Gupta.
As per an estimate, more than 1.5 lakh workers are employed in 400-odd garments factories in Gurugram.
Besides the garments factories, the automobile sector in this region also has a large number of contract workers without bank accounts and the employers in this sector as well might be facing similar problems of wage payments, said Mr. Gupta, adding that the Reserve Bank of India should explore some possibilities of providing cash during pay days to ease the problem of industry. (with pic)
