Sri Balaji Computers downs shutter

Last week, Sri Balaji Computers, a trading company in the local IT market has created a lot of flutter among the channels operating out from the same market. The small-time company closed its shutters all of a sudden leaving suppliers (who are mainly the local channels) in dismay.

According to market sources, the company was doing business actively till Thursday night (Feb 2) and failed to open its office next morning. "Till Thursday, we saw people doing business in this shop and all of a sudden the shop was closed from Friday onwards," said an IT trader who is doing business from the same commercial complex.

Sri Balaji Computers was operated by one Bala who is said to be a partner in the company. The other key person in the company is Vasudevan (popularly known as Vasu) who works for an IT company in the city and has nominated his wife as a partner in Sri Balaji Computers. According to market sources, Bala is a close relative of Selvaraj of Computer Island 2K, which was in the news for reportedly swindling several lakh of rupees from the local IT market. (the DQ week Madras has reported about Computer Island 2K duping the market in its issue dated 15-21 October 2001).

Amalgamated Enterprises, Devraj Computers, Nandhini Computer Peripherals, Sri Lakshmi System Products, JCL, Lakshmi Computers, Sagar Computers, Bohra Technologies, SES Technologies and Calisys Technology are some of the few companies (suppliers) who have payment pending issue with Sri Balaji Computers. According to market information, Sri Balaji has to pay more than Rs 11 lakh to several suppliers who have proof of supplying goods to them such as post dated cheques (PDCs) and invoice.

Also, there is another section of channels who claim that they also have supplied goods and waiting for the payment. However, most of them in this group do not have any proof of materials supplied to the company. "Altogether, we expect the outstanding to be over Rs 20 lakh," said a trader from this group.

Meanwhile, there is news doing rounds in the market that Vasudevan (one of the partners) has cleared 75 percent of the outstanding to some of the channels that came with proper proof of supplying materials to the company. "We all decided to file a case (police complaint) against the company and we also informed about this to Vasudevan through our local channel association. But, Vasudevan assured us of clearing the debts and he did it promptly by paying 75 percent of the dues. Thanks to him," said a trader who supplied goods to the company. While Vasudevan is taking the whole responsibility and trying to solve the issue, Bala is believed to be absconding from the market with no communication from his side. "We got news that he is very much in the town and he is also preparing to file a legal suit against some of the channels and his partner for defamation," said another trader from the Ritchie Street market.

"We should thank very much the local association for playing a responsible role in getting our money back. I feel that without this association's initiative it would have become tough for us to collect our money back," said a distributor.

Meanwhile, Vasudevan has assured the local market of clearing all their dues at the earliest possible time and the channels involved are waiting with bated breath.