Partnes in MP channel protest against Kobian and Inspan

New Delhi : Channel partners in Madhya Pradesh (MP) have united in protest of Kobian Electronics India (P) Ltd and their national distributor, Chennai-based Inspan Infotech. Partners allege that the vendor and its national distributor have not cleared the incentive/backends for a certain JFM scheme that was announced by Kobian early this year. More than 20 dealers in the region who have been promoting Kobian brand of motherboards for quite some time now, have been facing delays in payments and have been subjected to harassment by Inspan.

Indore-based Centronix Computers, Apex Computers, Computer Shoppe and GNG Computers are a few such companies who have been facing constant harassment from Inspan. While the dealers alleged that Kobian has withheld payment of incentives on
Inspan's instructions, Inspan has denied the charges. According to the disti, they have taken legal action against the dealers since the dealers have failed to make payments for the material they purchased from Inspan.

A senior executive at Inspan clarified, "We have taken legal action against those dealers who have defaulted on payments. It is only these three to four dealers against whom we have taken action whereas the rest of the dealer's accounts with us have been settled. At the moment we have closed operations in Indore and are awaiting the
court's judgment which is likely to be in our favour.""

Ravi Bajaj, Proprietor of Indore-based Centronix Computers whose incentive amounting to more than Rs 4 lakh is pending with Kobian, stated,
"Kobian and Inspan are trying to holdback the backend incentives of MP dealers. Kobian has to pay an amount close to Rs 4 lakh as part of the incentive payment to me. However, every time I approached Inspan and Kobian, they kept demanding my account statement, even as my statement with Inspan was manipulated in the process. When I pointed out that they had not reflected several of the cheques, that I had already handed over to Inspan in my account statements with them, they first rectified the error and thereafter stated that the credit notes issued by their branch manager--Ashok Tomar, based out of Indore, was not valid and he was not authorized to issue the same. We have been selling Mercury products for quite some time now. However, never during this period never have they informed that the credit notes can only be authorized by their Chennai head office and not the branch manager. Every time
Inspan's audit team came to Indore they admired the way I was functioning, and now all of a sudden the company claims that I have pending amounts to be paid to the
them."

Echoing the same sentiments, Jagdish Mantri, Proprietor, Apex Computers stated, "Kobian has not been responding to our repeated queries to provide us with the account statements. They have withheld my incentive of more than Rs 2 lakh. When I demanded my statement they provided me with a piece of paper that did not even carry
Inspan's name on it. We have already issued them a notice from the crime branch and the local police station at Indore. Even Madhya Pradesh Telecom and Computer Traders Association (MPTCTA) has come out in full support of
us."

Mantri further alleged that Inspan had to shut its operations in Mumbai, Surat and Baroda as the company had indulged in fraudulent practices in these regions as well.

"They had bribed Tomar to takes our name before the Indore police and to mention that we had indulged in fraudulent practices and have huge amounts pending towards Inspan. Tomar himself had confessed the above to us. They also filed a case against us at the Chennai police station which should ideally have been lodged at the Indore Police station. Reacting to the same I registered a case against Inspan on June 6 at the Indore Crime Branch Office and brought the matter to the notice of Indore police as
well."

Both Bajaj and Mantri further alleged that even Computer Shoppe had to put up with the
company's fraudulent practices. Inspan had forcefully taken a blank cheque from Computer Shoppe even as the company had no outstanding amounts lying with Inspan.

Yet another dealer, GNG Computer's cheque had been misused by Inspan. "Inspan went ahead and realized the blank cheque despite the fact that the company had no outstanding amounts to be
paid," mentioned Mantri.

On contacting Kobian, Sandeep Sharma, VP, Kobian clarified, "Kobian has been selling Mercury branded products in India since almost two decades. We have never defaulted in payments to any partner throughout India since we started operations in India. We have been asked by Inspan to hold backend of above partners as they have some dispute which is being resolved mutually by them. As per our scheme, unless our distributor confirms transaction information backend cannot be processed. The same has been mentioned by me in the e-mail replying to the queries raised by M/S Centronix. We appreciate their contribution to grow our business but at the sametime we cannot overrule certain guidelines of our scheme. I would not be able to comment on the dispute between Inspan and some partners in MP since Kobian is never involved in the transaction part of any billing from the distributor to the channel
partner."