Textile trade bandh from tomorrow

Centre urged to exempt the sector from the GST

Textile traders across the State comprising an estimated 40,000 micro, small and medium establishments are expected to go on a 72-hour strike beginning the morning of Tuesday in response to an all-India call urging the Centre to exempt the trade from the Goods and Services Tax.

Telangana State Federation of Textile Associations president Ammanabolu Prakash and vice-president Santosh Chokani among others, said the move initiated by the Centre on June 3, bringing the textile sector under the purview of GST was unfair and that they would consider June 3 as a ‘Black Day’. “From 1947, the sector has been exempted. Now with this, the textile sector will become the only one where tax will become four-layered. Manufacturer to all-India wholesaler, all-India wholesaler to State wholesaler, State wholesaler to retailer and finally the retailer to the consumer,” Mr. Prakash explained. This way, he said at each of the three stages, the manufacturer, all-India wholesaler and retailer will have to make a provision for the GST and also keep their share of profits.

All this would ultimately fall on the consumer only, he pointed out, adding that it would sound the death-knell for at least 8,000 of the 40,000 traders in the State.

Mr. Chokani said that since Independence the slogan of every political party was ‘roti, kapda, makaan’ (food, clothing and shelter), regretting that the National Democratic Alliance Government now sought to bring this sector under the GST net.

The federation leaders said all talk of the concerned Government departments taking up awareness camps across all sections of trade and industry apart, the textile sector had the largest number of illiterate people who knew nothing about either computerisation or GST.

“Only 11 per cent of shops in the country have computers and the trade runs on because it is one of the simplest, with few complications by way of records. How will we educate our traders all of a sudden ?,” Mr. Prakash asked.

The federation has 152 associations as its members in Telangana.