By: Express News ServiceSurat | October 6, 2025 10:56 PM IST 3 min readTraders said around 70 textile businessmen were fleeced of Rs 9 crore in the last one-and-a-half years.The Saurashtra Textile Traders Association (STTA) has blacklisted 70 textile traders from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal for allegedly defaulting on payment worth Rs 9 crore to around 20 textile traders of Surat.The decision was taken in a meeting of the Payment Solution Committee of STTA with textile traders at the Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA) office on Sunday.Talking to The Indian Express, committee chairman Umesh Amipara said, “The textile traders who have been cheated are members of our association, and we have requested FOSTTA to take stringent steps against other unscrupulous traders from other states.”Traders said around 70 textile businessmen were fleeced of Rs 9 crore in the last one-and-a-half years. The STTA has also blacklisted 16 agencies or brokers who had facilitated the deal between local traders and merchants from other states.Story continues below this adEarlier, the STTA had sent a list of 70 textile traders from other states along with the names of the brokers to the FOSTTA office and requested that they be circulated among different textile markets in Surat.The STTA claims to have around 900 registered members of textile traders who hail from different districts in Gujarat’s Saurashtra region and are settled in Surat.The move to blacklist the 70 traders was made after they failed to respond to notices issued to them by STTA.Amipara struck a note of caution for local traders to prevent recurrence of cheating cases in the future. “Diwali is round the corner, and the business of textiles is booming. Our request to the textile traders of Surat is to do business with caution and avoid being lured by dealings from tainted brokers. Surat traders should thoroughly review the details of traders from other states before engaging in any business. The traders should do business with those traders or brokers with whom they have worked in the past.”On October 2, the police department in the city held a meeting with stakeholders from various markets, advising them to be wary of “fly-by-night” firms.Story continues below this adExplaining how the cheating takes place, a police officer said, “These firms rent shops in various textile markets and begin purchasing sarees and dress materials on credit for a period of 60 days. To gain trust of the people in the industry, they initially make timely payments. However, after a few more business dealings, they begin defaulting on payment by shutting down their shops and vanishing without a trace, leaving their debts unpaid.”Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd