Small units get long-pending dues

By Our Special Correspondent

COIMBATORE, DEC. 9. The arrears due to four small units, amounting to more than Rs. eight lakhs, were cleared at a meeting of the Regional Industry Facilitation Council convened by the Directorate of Industries and Commerce here on Thursday.

According to an official release, the meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Director of Industries and Commerce, Mr. Rameshram Misra.

(The small units and ancillary units are supplying their products to large-scale industries, Government Departments and public sector undertakings.

As per agreement , the buyer units are liable to pay the amount within the time agreed upon - not exceeding 120 days.

However, the problem of delay in payment for the supplies by the small industries continues to be serious despite enactment of a separate law - Interest on Delayed Payment to Small Scale and Ancillary Industrial Undertakings Act, 1993. Due to the delay in payments, small scale units are facing financial crisis and many become sick units.

Hence, this council was set up on March 7 this year to help the small industries get their dues from the purchasers of their products if there had been any default or delay.

The regional headquarters are Chennai, Tiruchi, Madurai and Coimbatore. The area of jurisdiction under the Coimbatore Council is Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri, Namakkal, Karur and the Nilgiris districts.)

The members of the forum include the District Collector, Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Vice President of the Coimbatore unit of the Confederation of Indian Industries and the President of the District Small Industries Association.

The meeting took note of the eight disputes regarding payment of dues since 1996 to four small units.

Under the advice of the forum, of the eight disputant companies, three had settled the arrears to the tune of about Rs. 8.3 lakhs to the four units.

When some of the representatives of the small units submitted that there were some discrepancies between the payments and their accounts, the forum advised that the units which were delaying their dues should set right the accounts within a month.

If they were to fail to do so, they should pay penal interest amounting to one and a half times the interest announced by the State Bank of India to the supplier units since the date of purchase.

According to a press note from the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore unit, the next meeting of the council is likely to take place in April next.

Those small units facing payment problems could send in their complaints to the General Manager, District Industries Centre, Coimbatore, at the earliest.

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