Anubhav chief admits liquidity problem

He said that the group will be cutting some teak trees in December and realise around Rs 100 crore which will more than enough tomeet its immediate liabilities. The group is asking its investors to postpone their commitments till January 1999. Those who are in need of money efforts are being made to pay the amount. According to Natesan, nearly 60 per cent of the investors are willing to wait till January. The investors under the Goodearth Scheme are said to be most affected.

He blamed the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and rating agencies for his problems. He said a company which has been doing business for last four years cannot be asked to close shop overnight referring to SEBI’s demand that plantation companies should go for compulsory rating and should accept deposits only if they get investment grade rating and rating agencies’ uniform approach of not giving investment grade rating to any plantation company.

With no external sources of revenues (meaning fresh deposits) to repay existing deposits, Natesan said that the group was dependent on internal accruals and hence the problem. Anubhav Plantation is currentlynot accepting any deposits. It has a deposit base of Rs 100 crore.