The Kerala State Handloom Development Corporation Limited (Hanveev), on a path of revival, will close down five of its show rooms in the state, as they have been found to be financially unviable. The regional office in Ernakulam will also be closed.
Hanveev MD Lakshmanan Nambiar said it was not financially viable to run many of the showrooms including the one in Ernakulam.
“The monthly rent for the showroom was `40,000 and from this month it would go up to `60,000. we have to pay the electricity charges and the salary in addition to this. No employee will be in distress due to this. They will be redeployed,” he said.
Nambiar said the Hanveev could record a growth of 42 per cent in last financial year. The turnover was `11.1 crore during 2011-12. The figure touched `16.41 crore in 2012-13.
According to the MD, Hanveev has a target of `18 crore this fiscal of which `15 crore has already been realised.
The first half of the current financial year ended in a ‘no profit no loss’ situation when compared to the first half of the 2011-12 financial year, which registered a loss of `3 crore, he said.
However, the representatives of the corporation’s employees union said they do not agree with the view of the management.
“There was no need to close down these showrooms. There is no clarity in the justifications offered by them,” said P C Rajeev, KSHDC Employees council executive committee member.
Rajeev said the management had earlier claimed that the downsizing was on account of the directives from the government. “Later they stated that the showrooms are being shut down because of a decrease in production. We have doubts over genuineness of their statements,” he said.
Hanveev, headquartered at Kannur, with an attached regional office, has two other such offices at Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam.
“The offices at Thiruvanathapuram and Kannur are functioning at own buildings. The Ernakulam office functions from a rented building, despite the corporation owning 15 cents of land at a prime location in the city,” Rajeev said.
The Handloom Development Corporation set up in 1968, had a gradual growth and established themselves in the field of traditional handloom weaving.
The production process is managed by 55 professionally qualified staff through its 33 production centres.