Surat textile traders protesting GST

Implementation of GST in India has led to protests in several parts of the country such as Surat, Jaipur, Kanpur and Bhopal. Protests have been on since even before the new tax regime came into effect on July 1, 2017. Small traders in Surat, considered a hub of textile industry, said that they will have to pay 20 per cent more tax than bigger companies.

Surat produces 60 per cent of the country’s synthetic cloth. The city has more than 7,20,000 looms operated by over 1,50,000 entrepreneurs, according to media reports.

The textile traders supported an indefinite bandh on July 3, 2017 called by the GST Sangharsh Samiti against the five per cent GST rate on textiles. The traders are demanding abolishing of GST and implementation of a simple tax, the report said.

The GST Sangharsh Samiti had called for an indefinite bandh on July 2 in Surat textile market, one of the largest in the country, protesting the imposition of five per cent GST on textiles. Several cloth markets in the state remained closed as most traders had not registered for the new tax system and did not have the GST number. They hope that the central government will come out with some solution to the five per cent GST rate.

The reports said that the police wielded batons to disperse the agitators who allegedly engaged in stone-pelting. “We had to resort to lathicharge after some protesters pelted the policemen with stones, injuring one personnel,” Surat Police commissioner Satish Sharma was quoted as saying.

Small traders said the tax is adversely affecting their businesses. They are also contending that the time period given to them for GST compliance was short. They said that the GST should be imposed on ready-textile products and not on cloth.