The demand for sarees is going down. The government should have announced some subsidy or schemes for garment package as Surat has potential in it,” he added.
The interim budget announced on Friday garnered a mixed response from the diamond and textile industry experts. While the one-time tax rebate for those with a taxable income of up to Rs 5 lakh annually and the businesses with annual turnover less than Rs 5 crore being allowed to file quarterly GST returns has been welcomed by the industry, the absence of any announcements regarding Input Tax Credit has left them waiting for the next GST council meeting.
“We welcome the interim budget announced by the finance minister, as the tax rebate on annual income of Rs 5 lakh is excellent. The provision that an industry with annual turnover less than Rs 5 crore can file GST returns quarterly instead of monthly will also benefit the industry. Over 60 per cent of the textile traders will get covered in this. Textile traders are happy with the budget but our GST issues have not been looked into. We hope that it will be covered in upcoming GST council meeting,” said Manoj Agrawal, president of the Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSSTA).
The demand for sarees is going down. The government should have announced some subsidy or schemes for garment package as Surat has potential in it,” he added.
“Over all the textile industry will benefit indirectly from the interim budget. The people will start purchasing more clothes. For the 2 per cent interest subvention for MSMEs for loans up to Rs 1 crore, we are yet to see if it is on working capital or bank loans,” said Ashish Gujarat, secretary of the Federation of Gujarat Weavers Association.
“We are satisfied with the relaxation given to the middle classes and farmers. We hope to see an increase in business opportunity in terms of jewellery business with such relaxations. However, we are disappointed that our proposal to decrease the import duty on raw materials like gold, silver, cut-polished diamonds and coloured gems stones were not considered. We hope that it will be covered in the final budget,” Gujarat Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion council Chairman Dinesh Navadia said.
“It was a budget specially for common people like farmers, workers and salaried people. As it was the interim budget, there is no place for trade and industry but we are hopeful that there will be benefits of the industry in the final budget. We have also come to know that 36 commodities will be given relief on import duty, but we are yet to see what these commodities are,” said Ketan Desai, vice-president of the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“There is no direct benefit to the textile industry in this interim budget. The fabrics from China, Vietnam, are routed in India through Bangladesh and they are cheaper in price so the local industry faces problems in competing with them. Due to WTO (World Textile Organisation) guidelines, those fabrics exported to European countries, there is no benefit of getting duty draw back and some clarification or some solutions for this should have been included,” said Girdhar Gopal Mundra, an expert of the textile industry.

indianexpress.com