Garment producers demand ₹200 crore dues from Kishore Biyani's Future Group

The All India Garment Manufacturers & Vendors Association (AIGMVA) has demanded that Future Group owner Kishore Biyani should pay up their dues of over Rs 200 crore pending since 2019, here on Wednesday.

The AIGMVA, comprising around 350 members from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala, has warned Biyani of legal action if he fails to clear their dues.

In a statement, the AIGMVA advisor and Trade Union Joint Action Committee (TUJAC) Convenor Vishwas Utagi said that the producers and suppliers had supplied the garments as ordered by Biyani's group of companies between 2019-2022.

"Each manufacturer-vendor has dues of between Rs 70 crore to over Rs One crore and the total amount plus interest would be around Rs 500 crore. We want the union government and all the concerned state governments also to intervene and get the huge amount cleared immediately," Utagi demanded.

A garment producer from Thane said that a majority of them had availed bank loans to fulfil the Future Group's orders then but since Biyani did not pay up their bills, now the banks are hounding the manufacturers and suppliers for default and refusing to give more loans.

"Due to this, over 100,000 are directly hit and along with their families and other stakeholders, more than five lakh people are on the verge of joblessness and starvation due to Future Group, explained Utagi.

He said that the Future Group was last year sold to the Reliance Group and in this deal, the poor vendors comprising the backbone MSME sector of the Indian economy have been left in the lurch.

A vendor from Gujarat said that their profit margins are very thin, they have no cash surplus and they survive on a cash-credit facility with regular payments to their suppliers, employees, establishment costs, EMIs, etc.

"Owing to Future Group, our 100 per cent working capital is blocked, totally paralysing our operations, and now banks are hounding us with notices of loan defaults, some members have sold off family gold, saving or even their shops or homes to clear their dues and are now practically homeless," he said.

The AIGMVA and TUJAC also plan to file cases against the Future Group in different states, write to Members of Parliament and Members of Legislatures to highlight their plight and urge the government's intervention to compel Biyani to pay up the entire dues and end the matter.

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