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Bengaluru: IT union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) has filed a formal complaint with the central Ministry of Labour and Employment against Hyderabad-based IT firm Brane Enterprises Private Ltd for failing to pay Rs 17.55 crore in pending salaries to its employees, the union said on Friday.
The union also accused the company of engaging in financial irregularities. Despite deducting provident fund (PF) contributions and tax deducted at source (TDS) from employees' salaries, Brane Enterprises has failed to deposit these amounts with the relevant government authorities, it said. This violates Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 and the Income Tax Act, 1961.
This is despite the company declaring a net worth of Rs 58 crore in its report for financial year 2022-23.
The firm has ties to Ramalinga Raju of Satyam, and has repeatedly come under scrutiny over the past few months for withholding salaries and terminating employees without clearing due pay.
In early 2024, Brane reportedly hired over a thousand employees. Employees have said that it was starting April 2024 that salaries began to repeatedly get put off. In August, Brane laid off over 1,500 employees across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and other parts of India, employees had reportedly said.
“Those who sought written confirmations regarding salary payments were either ignored, threatened termination, or given vague responses to further stall any action,” highlighted NITES in its letter.
“It is pertinent to highlight that Brane Enterprises Pvt Ltd has been operating under the direct influence of Ramalinga Raju, the former chairman of Satyam Computers, who was convicted for orchestrating one of India's largest corporate frauds. The company, which claims to be at the forefront of patented Artificial Intelligence technology, has listed the patent under Raju’s name,” added NITES.
NITES has demanded immediate intervention from the government, both to ensure that employees receive their wages and for legal action to be taken against those responsible.