Maple IT close down operations

Gopi Krishna

CHENNAI: Chennai based Maple IT Hardware, a business promoted by Selathaar Industry with A Jamalur Razack as the first director and his wife Sakira Banu as the other director, has announced that it has shut down its business.

When contacted, Razack confirmed the market rumors that Maple IT Hardware had closed down its operations effective from this week. According to witnesses, the company has changed its office set up over night by stocking leather goods and removing all posters and materials connected with Maple. The company's corporate office is situated in 1C Tangy, 34, Victoria Crescent Road, Egmore, Chennai 600 008.

Earlier, the market was abuzz with rumors that Maple would be closing down its operations anytime. Meanwhile, the company was hurriedly pushing its stocks in the market and a few resellers had taken large quantities of Maple products recently, according to market sources. But, the has sent shock waves among the resellers, as they are worried about warranty and other support issues. Maple had earlier claimed to have over 70 regional distributor, 750 resellers across 41 cities.

"I never knew that Maple would be this sort of company. They came up like a wave and faded out instantaneously. I really don't know what to do with the stocks I have taken from them," said a reseller requesting anonymity.

"In the last couple of months, we have not been getting stocks properly and we thought it was some inventory mismanagement problem within the company. However, when things came to light we are left lost as we do not hold any stocks for the replacement and warranty purposes," said another reseller in the market.

When asked about the warranty issues with Razack, he replied, "Maple is closed and there is no point in talking about warranty support for the resellers now."

Maple was distributing products such as keyboard, mouse, low-end speakers, joysticks and gamepads. It also announced that it would launch cabinets, hi-end speakers, motherboards, modems, monitors and PCs, which did not happen.

According to sources close to the company, Maple had to pay over Rs 30 lakh to various sources in the market, while its outstanding (amount receivable) was about Rs 3 lakh from Tamilnadu market.

"We all were thrown out off gear last week and he (Razack) did not give any proper notice to us. We are worried about our final settlements and I could not find any reason for this sudden move," said an employee of the company. According to him, there are goods worth over Rs 1.3 crore lying in the warehouse in Chennai and some stocks in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and other cities.

The company has a godown in Numbal village, Pallikuppam, Chennai. Maple was known for its variety of reseller policies in the market. "The company keeps on changing its distributors (Maple had regional distributorship concept) and every month they find one new distributor in the market," said a reseller. One of its distributors who closed shop recently is Genitek Instruments.

Selathaar Industry had registered itself as a company with the Registrar of Companies in 1999, under the certificate number 18-42472 of 1999. The company was established with the objective of carrying out business in IT by importing products from the overseas markets and representing international brands in the Indian soil. The company's other objectives specified in the book include carrying out construction projects, marketing of automobile components, industrial process, to name a few.

"Razack has got tannery business also and he has diverted the funds to that business. It is understood that recently he bought a tannery unit in Vaniyambadi, Tamilnadu and is planning to buy one more. His main purpose of getting into IT was to make quick money," alleged another employee of the company.

The company's banker was The South India Bank, T Nagar branch, with headquarters in Thrissur.

(CNS)