Uttara Foods and Feeds Private Ltd, a subsidiary of VH Group, an Indian conglomerate, has been delaying payments of Tk16 crore in outstanding debts to its local suppliers in Bangladesh, pushing them to the verge of bankruptcy.
Although the company repeatedly extended the payment date, it failed to make any payments in the last three years, and on top of that, the company recently shut down two of its factories in Jessore, said the owners of 24 such creditor companies during a press briefing at the Jessore Press Club on Wednesday.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, Sandeep Tawani, auditor at Uttara Foods and Feeds Ltd, said the company was supposed to clear all its dues in March this year but had to once again postpone it due to the outbreak of the global pandemic.
However, the company would have to pay off its creditors sooner or later, he added.
Reading out a written statement, Pallab Sameer Kudrote Khoda Brezhnev, owner of Dhaka's Tur Corporation, said: “Around 70 companies across the country have been supplying their raw materials to Uttara Foods and Feeds company, all of which are supposed receive full payment for the materials within a month of delivery. But for the last three years, none of these companies have received any payments.”
He stated that the Jessore Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police had already been notified of the matter. "The company had promised to pay the dues on March 15. The then company asked for an extension to June due to the pandemic but once again failed to keep its promise."
AKM Asaduzzaman, owner of Satata Traders, said: “We have supplied raw materials for poultry and fish feed to Uttara Foods and Feeds from various suppliers across the country. The company now owes me Tk6.41 crore. Without the money, I am unable to pay off my loans to various creditors, including the bank, while the VH Group makes huge profits from trading in feed in about 44 countries of the world.”
