The textile industry in Surat has been hit hard as the manufacturing units, traders and retailers remained shut due to the ongoing protest against GST. While the strike continues, majority of the traders as well as the industry comprising of hundreds of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) want to resume the business, says Narain Aggarwal, Chairman of The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) informed about the latest development.
“More than 50 per cent of the businesses want to resume under GST, they however are demanding certain procedural ease which even the government is willing to consider, but due to the group that doesn’t want to let the business happen there is a chaotic situation," he says.
The textile industry has suffered a loss of an estimated Rs 40,000 crore due to the protest against GST since July 1. In Gujarat alone, the loss is roughly to the tune of about Rs 10,000 crore. Lakhs of traders associated with the textile industry have been protesting the inclusion of clothes in the ambit of GST. They have put forth two demands to end their protest – taxing only thread or deferring GST on textiles till April 2019.
Traders have suffered a loss of about Rs 10,000 crore due to the strike. Adding industries associated with raw materials, transport and others, this loss could be to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore so far. If the protests at other places such as Erode in Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are also included, the total losses would reach about Rs 40,000 crore.