Ahead of the Gujarat elections, battle lines are drawn between textile traders and mill owners over payment issues

Surat (Gujarat): When Gujarat is going for the first phase of elections on December 1, battle lines have been drawn between the textile traders and the textile mill owners in the country’s largest man-made fabric (MMF) centre in Surat. It was after the mill owners unanimously issued a ‘fatwa’ on payment terms, the textile traders up their ante stating it as an anti-trade decision.

According to the new payment rules decided by the South Gujarat Textile Processors Association (SGTPA), the textile traders making payments for the jobwork of fabric after 60 days will be put in the defaulters’ list and they (traders) have been asked to make payment within 30 days.

The SGTPA members have unanimously decided to charge 2% interest from the traders making payments between 30 days and 60 days for processing the fabrics.

The Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA) issued a circular for the textile traders stating that the decision taken by the SGTPA is one-sided and will impact the textile trade as a whole. The federation has asked the traders to accept the terms only when the mill owners are processing their pending orders.

Jitu Vakharia, president of SGTPA said, “The SGTPA members have unanimously decided to implement the new payment rules starting from December 1, 2022. The late payment issue has gained serious proportions and many textile mills are facing financial problems for quite a long time now. Thus we have announced the new payment rules and the traders will have to abide by”

Bothra said, “There has to be a mutual understanding and brotherhood among the textile mill owners and traders. Ultimately, the harsh rules will damage the smooth functioning of the industry. We request the mill owners to relax the new payment norms”