Recovering trade dues with limited paperwork
Traders rarely have purchase orders. What you usually have is enough: your sale bills, delivery challans or transport receipts, e-way bills for larger consignments, WhatsApp messages confirming orders and promising payment, and the party’s ledger confirmations. Part-payments and written promises also restart the three-year limitation period. Our advocates build the claim from exactly these.
Routes that work for traders
- Legal notice. A formal demand with the full ledger. Many parties pay because they want to keep buying in Mumbai’s market.
- Section 138. If a cheque bounced, the strongest route: criminal consequences and a tight timeline (notice within 30 days of the return memo).
- Summary suit. For bill-based dues with no genuine dispute, the court can decide without a full trial.
- Settlement with security. Payment plans backed by post-dated cheques, so a missed instalment is itself a Section 138 case.
MSME Samadhaan is generally not available to pure trading businesses; manufacturers and processors with Udyam registration can use it.
Recovering B2B dues in Mumbai: what is specific here
Mumbai is India’s largest B2B market and its dues are the most varied: garment exporters in Dharavi and Andheri, chemical traders in Masjid Bunder, agencies and consultants billing corporates in BKC and Lower Parel. Cheque-based payments are still common in trading, so Section 138 is a frequent route, and arbitration clauses in corporate contracts often decide where a dispute is heard.
Main industries: textiles and garments, finance and services, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, media and advertising and import and export trading.
Courts: Metropolitan Magistrate courts (Esplanade, Mazgaon, Andheri, Bandra, Kurla and others) for Section 138 complaints; City Civil Court and the Bombay High Court Commercial Division for high-value recovery suits.
MSME claims: Udyam-registered micro and small suppliers in Mumbai file on MSME Samadhaan, heard by the Maharashtra Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Councils (regional councils for Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Amravati regions) (Directorate of Industries, Government of Maharashtra, Mumbai, and regional Joint Director of Industries offices). The Council sits where the supplier is, so a Mumbai supplier can pursue a buyer in another state from home.
How recovery works for a business in Mumbai
- Free consultation and case assessment. Send us the invoice, purchase order or delivery proof and the buyer’s messages. We tell you what is recoverable and how.
- Dedicated advocate within 24 hours. Your advocate sends a legal notice as an e-notice the same day and by registered post, with proof of delivery saved.
- Negotiation and settlement. The advocate calls the buyer, explains the consequences and agrees a payment plan. About 60% of our cases close here.
- Filing if needed. MSME Samadhaan before the Maharashtra Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Councils (regional councils for Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Amravati regions), a Section 138 complaint in the Mumbai magistrate courts, a summary suit or arbitration, handled by the same advocate.
You pay nothing upfront. Our fee is 30% of the amount actually recovered; if nothing is recovered there is no fee. Court fees, where a matter is filed, are borne by you and told to you in advance.