News Update

Vendors of the Future Group demand that 500 CR of inventory be cleared.

• ByStartupStory     |    November 15, 2022

With Reliance Retail refusing to hoist clothing worth Rs 500 crore for the past eight months, the future for the micro, small, and medium-sized business members of Future Group Vendors United looks gloomy. Vendors from Tirupur, Delhi, Gujarat, and Rajasthan will gather in front of the Reliance Retail headquarters at Ghansoli, on the outskirts of Mumbai, on Monday to demand that inventory be cleared and debts be paid. Future Group Suppliers All of the Future Group firms receive their clothing and fashion accessories from United, a group of more than 300 MSME suppliers.

Reliance Retail and Future Group Vendors United had inked a tripartite agreement to supply clothing at the height of their attempt to take over Future Group’s operations. Vendors used to bill items to Future Enterprises and send them to Reliance Retail in accordance with the mutual agreement, and Reliance Retail made payments to the vendors directly.

Purchase agreement

When the goods are received at the Reliance Retail warehouse, Reliance will pay 25% of the purchase price up front and the remaining 75% within 10 days. After this arrangement had been in place for six months, the payment terms were changed to 45 days after the release of the GRN, with the new schedule lasting through March. Payments were still made until February. Reliance Retail, however, stopped stealing the goods that the sourcing team of Future Group had ordered along with copies of the purchase orders in January. As a result of having an inventory worth Rs. 500 crore, the garment manufacturers are in ruins. Reliance Retail’s takeover attempt of Future Group was abandoned in April.

No payments

The lives of vendors and the approximately one lakh people involved have been negatively impacted, according to Piyush Shah, co-founder, and member of Future Group Vendors United, because Future Group has not paid vendors in three years and has not yet removed ready-to-shelf inventory worth Rs 500 crore. At a meeting with Kishore Biyani earlier this month, more than 100 suppliers demanded payment for unpaid invoices but received neither a direct response nor a resolution. Reliance Retail stepped in to rescue the Future Group after the pandemic when it was in dire financial straits and all vendors had ceased supplying items to Future Group enterprises because of unpaid invoices, according to Shah.

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