With just a few days to go for the Union Budget-2018, the Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA) has sought extension of the e-way bill's implementation in the textile industry by six months and simplification GST as well as a range of other demands submitted to Union finance minister Arun Jaitley. FOSTTA says, the Surat's man-made fabric (MMF) sector was manufacturing 4 crore metre of fabric per day, which has been reduced to 1.7 crore metre post GST. The daily turnover of 65,000 textile traders, which was estimated to Rs 110 crore per day, has been reduced to just Rs 45 crore post GST.

Textile traders urged the finance minister to form a special committee on MMF textile sector to study the impact of GST and suggest long-term solutions. The traders demanded that central government set up a garment manufacturing hub in the city to help textile traders directly supply their fabrics to manufacturing units.

The central government should increase loan amount from Mudra Bank from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh to support the 'Make In India' campaign and permit small traders to avail of benefits. Textile traders are facing numerous issues in submitting KYC details to the banks under the new law of the Reserve Bank of India. A majority of textile traders, including small traders, do not have permanent houses in the city and are unable to submit their personal details.