The State Bank of India informed the bourses on Friday about a fraud allegedly committed by the Chennai-headquartered Nathella Sampath Jewellery Private Limited (NSJPL) worth over ₹250 crore.
In a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange, the SBI said, “NSJPL, a jewellery manufacturing company, was incorporated in 2007. An aggregate limit of ₹250 crore sanctioned by the SBI in a consortium arrangement had been classified by the bank as ‘fraud’ on December 22, 2017 for having misrepresented the financial statements from 2010 and liquidated primary security.”
In 2017, NSJPL was born by merging three firms run by the family — Nathella Sampath Jewellery, Nathella Sampathu Chetty (NSC) & Co and NSC Jewellers.
Last year, one of the subsidiary firms brought its shutters down, citing cash crunch.
The company could not pay back the money to customers who had invested in its gold chit scheme. The firm put out a notice outside its outlet on Thanikachalam Road, T. Nagar, stating that it was unable to pay dues to depositors and also sought time to return the money.
‘Tough time’
Prasanna Kumar, director of Nathella, had then told The Hindu , “We are going through a tough time and our first priority is to help our customers. We just need some time.” In November 2017, the jewellery firm’s promoters admitted to the Economic Offences Wing that it owed money to more than 21,000 customers who had deposited in its gold chit scheme.
