Jamshedpur, Sept. 11: The move of Tata Motors to return spare parts to manufacturers after almost “one year” has agitated ancillary units of the company in Adityapur industrial area.

Industrialists said that the company was returning the items procured almost two years ago for which they had got payment too.

After receiving complaints from the industrial units, Adityapur Small Industries Association has convened a general meeting of the vendors on September 13.

The association’s president, S.N. Thakur, said: “We have called a meeting to discuss the problems being faced by the ancillary units here. We will decide on the future course of action after looking into their problems.”

Ancillary unit owners said that the move of Tata Motors would hit them hard especially at a time when there is a slump in the commercial vehicle manufacturing market.

More than 70 per cent of the 800-odd companies in the industrial area provides spare parts to Tata Motors for assembling vehicles.

“Earlier this year, the company was assembling around 6,000 vehicles per month in its plant at Lucknow and Jamshedpur. That has been scaled down to just 4,000 this month. At a time when the units here are facing the heat of slowdown in market, Tata Motors has decided to return the spare parts supplied to them,” said an industrialist on condition of anonymity.

Another industrialist said this was the first time that the company was deducting money from recent bills for supplies made in last fiscal.

“We have no idea why the company has taken the decision to return the spare parts supplied by us in the last fiscal. The amount for earlier transaction is being deducted from the bills of the recent supply. We are left with no other option but to take back the finished product,” he said.

The industrialists are not sure what they would do with the spare parts. Company officials maintained that they were only returning the spare parts that had been rejected after the inspection.

“We have not made any payment for the products that are being returned. This is normal process, if our officials reject the products after inspection, we return it to the manufacturers. We would never compromise on the quality of spare parts that are fitted in vehicles,” said one of the spokespersons of Tata Motors.

The ancillary owners, however, declined to buy the argument and said that the rejected parts are returned within few days of supply.

The company has never waited for almost two years to return the supply back to the manufacturer. “If they were rejected parts then why did they pay for it?” asked an industrial unit owner.