Payment crisis: FOSTTA to name textile defaulters | Surat News

Surat: The Federation of Surat Textile Traders Associations (FOSTTA) Forum on Friday announced that it will publicly name textile distributors who fail to make payments even after the 180-day credit period or return goods after the credit term has expired.The decision was taken at a meeting of the forum in view of the growing number of complaints from traders amid a payment crisis and market slowdown. FOSTTA said the move is aimed at protecting traders and ensuring ethical business practices.As per the decision, details of distributors with outstanding payments beyond 180 days will be uploaded on the FOSTTA Forum mobile application. Members also collectively agreed to upload details of their pending payments on the app, following which the names of defaulters will be circulated among members through the app and official mobile groups.Traders said distributors from various parts of the country often place orders on a 180-day credit basis. In several cases, when traders demand payment after the credit period ends, the distributors return unsold goods instead.“After six months, returned goods are often out of fashion or damaged, leading to heavy losses for traders,” said Kailash Hakim of the FOSTTA Forum.In such cases, FOSTTA said it has begun the process of naming distributors after verifying complaints from traders. The forum believes that making the names public will create psychological pressure for timely payments and promote ethical trade practices.The meeting also discussed restricting the maximum payment credit period to 70 days and limiting the time for returning goods to 30 days.