Chennai’s famous 77-year-old Nathella Jewellers on Tuesday, 24 October, has closed all of its seven outlets across Tamil Nadu, due to a financial crisis.
The decision by the jewellery brand has caused a major stir among its customers, especially those who signed up for their gold saving schemes, that lets customers buy gold in installments.
However, the management has clarified that steps to repay customers’ dues are already being taken.
The Business Standard reported that some customers had filed a complaint against the jeweller’s Tambaram branch two days before they shut shop, accusing them of illegally taking the money from customers against the gold saving schemes.
The customers claimed they were not able to purchase jewellery despite paying the monthly installments.
A resident of West Mambalam, S Mahalakshmi shared her concern as she was not able to convert gold bought from Nathella into cash.
When I approached their T Nagar branch, they said they could give a cheque after two months due to cash crunch. Since it was an emergency, I had to sell gold to a local pawn dealer at a lower rate.S Mahalakshmi to the media
The police have arrested the company's manager following the complaints. The case will probably be passed on to the Central Crime Branch.
The Business Standard further reported that about 50 of Nathella's customers filed the police complaint at Tambaram police station, claiming that the company defrauded them of approximately 17 lakh rupees.
The managing director of Nathella told The Hindu that they will be selling their ancestral property in order to repay their dues.
We are selling our ancestral property to settle customers dues, particularly those who invested in the gold saving schemes. We are also planning to reach out through mail. We hope to settle dues in a couple of weeks.N Prappana Kumar, managing director, Nathella Jewellery, told The Hindu
The circular on the outlets assures that all the steps are being taken to repay the dues. It asked customers to check back after just two weeks and urged them to be patient and supportive in this unfortunate turn of events.
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