NEW DELHI: The Congress will flag the concerns of the textile sector workers at the GST Council meeting to be held in Hyderabad on September 9.
According to Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, party vice president Rahul Gandhi had interacted with shopkeepers, entrepreneurs and representatives of unorganized labour involved in the field of textiles on September 4 who told him about the loss of jobs. Also, the Congress has received similar feedback from Bhiwandi and Malegaon in Maharashtra, Ludhiana in Punjab, and Tirupur in Tamil Nadu.
Terming the GST as a complex tax, the Congress ministers in Punjab and Karnataka, Manpreet Badal and Krishna Byre Gowda respectively, raised the plight of textile sector workers in their states.
Noting that micro and small manufacturers, traders, cloth merchants and shopkeeper in textile sector are the second biggest job generators after agriculture, the Congress leaders said the distorted duty structure of GST will hit millions of small power looms.
The big players with integrated plants from yarn to apparel like Arvind and Raymond suffer no loss as they will be able to recover entire tax credits, said the Congress.
They further pointed out that while Indian fabric manufacturers will pay high taxes, imports from China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and other countries at 5 percent will further hit India’s textile sector making it unprofitable.
“The strike in the textile sector has already caused an estimated loss of nearly Rs.40,000 crore across the country and loss of nearly 15 lakh jobs. Considering that 12 crore people are engaged in the textile sector, it could be a huge set back for the economy if not redressed appropriately,” said Badal and Gowda.