Food franchises enjoy a large amount of popularity in India, especially among the youngsters which translates into financial success for the owners of these businesses in the modern day. On the other hand, picking the incorrect one will cost you both time and money. As the Indian franchising business is increasing in fame, so is the scams and politics in the franchising. The Kewal Ahuja instance is a shocking example for the youngsters to check on the company well enough before investing your time and money.
Spice, Grill, Flame (SGF) and owner Kewal Ahuja have been a much clean imaged business and owner in front of the public till their fraud and fund misappropriation details gets revealed. (SGF)Kewal Ahuja presented this business to the franchisees in such a way that it had looked so tempting & lucrative business with high return value in minimum frame of time. The people who were being told to leave their job or lost their jobs during this pandemic, were in need of finding an option to get their livelihood generated by some or the other means of business.
These people and other youngsters fell for the promises given by Kewal Ahuja and invested their money in the SGF franchising. These people lost their money as the promises on profit generation were not kept and also were denied giving back their money. Moreover, the fee collected by SGF, was not reported to regulators such as Income Tax Department and GST Council under regulatory filings. SGF is non-compliant in MCA filings as well.
The details of SGF’s statutory non-compliance are as follows:
· SGF was formed in year 2019 and first auditor was appointed on February 25th, 2019, however till march 2019, there was no available record with MCA for financial and annual filing.
· Second auditor was appointed in SGF on 31/12/2020 for the period from 1st April 2019 till march 31st 2024, there is again no available record with MCA for financial and annual filing. The first auditor resigned in just few months and second auditor was appointed in extra ordinary general meeting, which raise an alarm.
· SGF has not filed annual returns and financial statements with MCA for last 2 years which is a mandator exercise for every PVT. Ltd company in India. If there is a further non-compliance for third year, MCA may start the process of striking off suo moto. SGF has not initiated any e forms to correct the non-compliance which highlights the intent to no follow the going concern.
· SGF has filed no returns the income tax returns for the last three years. If the company is collecting franchise fee, the company should be filing the profit and loss account with the income tax department even if the net profit is NIL. This may highlight malicious intent.
· SGF has applied for 3 GST numbers. Out of these 3 GST numbers’ 2 are registered in Delhi and Haryana state and the status is INACTIVE. These GST numbers are cancelled by GST council suo moto. GST number of Mumbai is active however, there is no return filed by company since September 2021.
All those interested investors should be cautious and refrain themselves from investing in brand SGF owned by Kewal Ahuja, where cheating and doing fraud has been kept as a main criterion of the business.
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