Turbulent times for Deccan 360!

CNBC-TV18 had first told you on July 6 that entrepreneur Captain Gopinath's logistics arm, Deccan 360, was facing cash flow problems. Now a month later, CNBC-TV18's Sunanda Jayaseelan caught up with some of the employees of the company who seem to be bearing the brunt of the franchisee-based model failing to deliver.

Barely two years after aviation expert and entrepreneur Capt Gopinath announced that he would focus his energies on building a hub-and-spoke model in the cargo business, he is being forced to admit the venture did not really take off as planned. Faced with cash flow problems, the company wrote to its employees asking them to look for alternative jobs or to continue working without pay as it had to undergo a business and financial restructuring. Of the nearly 650 employees that Deccan 360 had launched its operations with in 2009, CNBC-TV18 understands that only about 50, as of today, are coming in to work. While they refused to speak on camera apparently due to an internal gag order, they did tell CNBC-TV18 off-camera that they are just waiting for their remaining dues to get cleared or find another job. CNBC-TV18 understands salary arrears for the past couple of months had been settled for some employees, but only at junior levels. Most of them told that they had no clarity on what the future held for them. Sources within the company tell CNBC-TV18 that the company has set itself a deadline till about mid next month to find an interested investor which will then help it to tweak its franchisee model and hopefully relaunch. CNBC-TV18 could not get a comment from either Captain Gopi or his team despite several attempts to contact them.