The ₹36,000-crore NBFC Muthoot Finance is considering closing down around 300 of its branches in the State that the management is unable to open owing to protest by a group of employees, who are physically not allowing these branches to function.
Muthoot Finance would close down these branches permanently in a phased manner if there is no other option, said George Alexander Muthoot at a press conference here on Tuesday. He was speaking to the media after a day-long sit in by him before the corporate office on Banerjee Road in the city in protest against a group of employees not allowing the corporate office to function.
He said the Kerala portion of the company’s business had come down to 4% of the total business from the previous level of over 10%. This was due to the frequent strike by some employees. Over the past two years there were strikes that had crippled the hit of the company’s business, he said.
He claimed that the employees had no cause for complaint as Muthoot Finance offered one of the best pay packages in the industry. Over salaries, employees were given frequent incentives, bonuses. They had a pension scheme and also been offered employees’ stock option. The company had 3,000 employees in Kerala.
Mr. Muthoot also said the company had abandoned its plans to have its new headquarters in Kerala because of frequent strikes and business losses.
A statement issued by the company during the press conference said there was no trade union at the company and not a single one of the 350 employees at the company’s headquarters had joined the trade union. There were a handful of employees who had joined hands with “forces from outside” to disrupt business, he added.
