Playing backfoot, staying safe

Mumbai: In the wake of the current slowdown and the consequential
scams, payment defaults, etc Trade Association of Information Technology (TAIT)
has decided to stay safe and in the shade. TAIT has recently issued some
guidelines/precautionary measures to all the vendors and partners in the region
which could help them stay afloat and out of credit problems in such times.

Seeing the credit crunch in the market TAIT has issued a set of eight
guidelines; the guidelines suggest reduction of the credit period to 21 days
maximum, to increase liquidity, it also supports issuing of PDC cheques within
seven days of receiving the goods for all goods purchased. Also, if the credit
period is extended beyond 21 days, the interest rate will be applicable from the
23rd day at 24 percent rate. They also suggest a penalty of Rs 250 or 0.5
percent of the cheque amount if the cheque bounces. They also advise all
partners to take a co-stamp on the delivery challan and reconfirm the order by
calling back to the party. The availability of the payment cheques should be on
all the working days. The guidelines also suggest that if any employee is
leaving, sacked or newly appointed the channel should be informed immediately to
avoid any confusions. Lastly, TAIT suggests to get a list from all the customers
of their employees who could possibly be authorized to purchase the goods.

The above guidelines have been issued by TAIT as a precaution, to avoid any
kind of incidents which have been happening all over the country, from partners
running away with money, to cheques bouncing.

Champak Raj Gujjar, Ex-Chairman and Director, TAIT commented. "Since
recession has started we were watching and trying to analyze the situation."

"There was sprouting of small incidents happening in the region like delay in
payments by one or two and thus spoiling the whole cycle. Also credit was being
given much more importance, now we want to emphasize more on cash. To avoid
these small incidents from becoming big scams and ghotalas we have extended
these guidelines to the partners. The liquidity in the market is low, in fact
all over the world its the same, this is our attempt to just play safe and stay
away from bigger problems, after all precaution is always better than cure," he
added.