More than 400 Indian employees of 3 companies in Singapore have not received salaries for months

New Delhi. The Indian High Commission in Singapore said on Wednesday evening that they are in touch with the employees of three Singapore companies who have not received salaries for months. They are also coordinating with the ‘National Trades Union Congress’ and the ‘Ministry of Manpower’, who are helping the affected people. SK Industries, KPA Engineering and VVR Plant Engineering have left more than 400 employees from India and Bangladesh without salaries and accommodation.

According to a report, a common director of these three companies has been identified as Indian citizen Ramu Palani Velu. The report said that Ramu, a permanent resident of Singapore, is believed to have left the country. An investigation by corporate intelligence platform Sayari revealed that he is a director of seven companies in Singapore that provide air-conditioning, plumbing and building services.

Shopping vouchers given to laborers

NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng, representatives of the Migrant Workers Center and Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash met the workers on Wednesday and assured them of help. Workers are being given SGD200 cash and supermarket shopping vouchers. Along with this, arrangements are being made for another place for them to live and efforts are also being made to provide them jobs.

The migrant laborers who had not received their salaries informed the Manpower Ministry about this matter on Monday. They said they were unable to contact their bosses at KPA Engineering and its associated company SK Industries, which provide air-conditioning maintenance services. Ng said the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management and Tripartite Partners are trying to contact the owners involved in the matter.

According to the report, Ramu took over the work of VVR Plant Engineering in 2025. Earlier this company belonged to Indian citizens Ravi Victor and Ravi Vijayarani, and their Singapore-based son Ravi Martin Abraham. 23 year old Martin told that the family had sold this company to Ramu. He said, ‘It is not easy for new companies to get permits, so we felt that this is why they bought our family business.’

This company was considered highly valuable because it held work permits for specific process sectors, allowing process construction and maintenance work to be carried out in places such as Jurong Island.

Ramu started his first business KPA Engineering in 2014 and its capital was last recorded at SGD 1 million. According to the report, Indian citizen Sundaramurthy Komathi worked with Ramu as a company director between 2016 and 2018. According to the report, after his departure, Krishnamurthy Sundaramurthy became the director in 2020 and is still an active director.

Sam, who works at KPA Engineering, said that the employees knew Ramu as ‘Big Boss’, while the day-to-day work was handled by an Indian citizen named Murthy. Sam said, ‘We are trying to contact Murthy, but he has not responded.

In the year 2019, Ramu started ‘Comfort Air Engineering’ with a registered capital of SGD 100,000 and he is its sole director. In the year 2023, he registered ‘SK Industries’ with a capital of SGD200,000 and is also its sole director, while Sundaramurthy Komathi is its shareholder.

In the year 2025, Ramu registered three more companies in a single day – KMS Integrated, GM Integrated and HVS Industries. He is the only director of these three. KMS was registered with a capital of SGD100,000, while GM and HVS each had a capital of SGD10,000.

According to media reports, the Ministry of Manpower has indicated that it is investigating KPA Engineering and SK Industries for possible violations of rules. This case concerns more than 400 employees who were left without salary and accommodation. Now officials, trade unions and worker groups in India and Singapore are working to help them and find those responsible.