Manmade fabric hub of Surat wants traders and weavers to be removed from the purview of GST. The output of manmade fabric has come down from around four crore meters a day to less than two crore meters in the July-April 2017-18 period, ie post implementation of GST.

Sale of polyester fabric, including saris and dress material, has reduced by nearly 40 per cent, and the export of finished fabrics has decreased by around 28 per cent in the first ten months since GST was implemented on July 1, 2017. More than 90,000 power loom machines have been sold in scrap during the ten-month period, as import of fabric from China and other countries has become cheaper.

Since July 1 last year, over 60,000 embroidery machines have been shut rendering thousands of women jobless. First, the withdrawal of high-value currency notes paralysed Surat as its economy is largely cash-based involving small processors and migrant employees. Then GST rendered a big blow to textile processors, whose cost increased sharply along with compliance burden.

Since yarn is not woven, and fabric is not produced, job workers do not have much processing work. Following the rise in crude oil prices, prices of petrochemicals are also rising. These are raw materials for producing polyester yarn used by Surat-based power looms.