More than 100 textile merchants in Maharashtra’s Ichalakaranji are on a five-day strike since July 7 against the recently rolled out pan India Goods and Services Tax (GST). Textile mills in the vicinity are expected to temporarily stop production for some time as their cloth would not be procured by the striking traders, resulting in a fall in prices.

The Ichalkaranji Powerloom and Merchants Association is demanding that they should be allowed to file tax returns once in three months, instead of three returns every month. They are also seeking a guarantee that they would not be harassed by the tax authorities.

The textile business has come to a standstill in several parts of the country, with traders and mill owners going on strike in various hubs like Surat, Bhiwandi, Ahmedabad, Malegaon, Karur, Erode, etc.

In Ichalkaranji, more than 40 per cent of the loom owners have already stopped buying yarn since the GST was implemented. According to the loom and mill owners, tax is levied under GST on every stage of textile production, such as spinning, sizing, weaving and processing, and the manufacturers will get the returns in the form of input tax credit.

Earlier, tax was to be paid only at the initial stage of yarn procurement, and all subsequent stages were tax free. The merchants are demanding that the GST should not be levied on unit-wise work done. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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