Under the leadership of Ajay Tamta, the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) and Global Fabric Resource and Research Centre (GFRRC) have jointly organized a seminar on ‘future opportunities in textiles’. The managing director of Sangam India Ltd, Bhilwara, S N Modani will be the guest of honour

“We have invited the minister to show us the way forward on future opportunities in textiles. We are not going to put forth any demands or representations before the minister as said by the Head of GFRRC Girdhargopal Mundra who also accepted the invitation as a chief guest and is in the city to attend some private events.”

More than 1.25 lakh conventional power looms have been sold in the scrap market and more than 40,000 workers rendered jobless according to sources due to the drastic reduction in production of polyester fabric from 4 crore metre per day to just 2.5 crore metre

To boost research and development and technology transfer in the silk sector Industry sources said, the textile ministry has recommended constituting an inter-ministerial panel with a fund of Rs 1,000 crore

“We have been told that Tamta will not meet representative from textile associations and federations. Still, we believe that he will talk about the situation prevailing in the industry at the SGCCI’s event. We hope the central government to seriously study the impact of GST on Surat’s textile sector.” as quoted by Power loom industry leader Ashish Gujarati

At present, the man-made fabric (MMF) sector is lying on a deathbed because of negative impact of GST

“FIASWI and some power loom weavers will be meeting Tamta on Thursday. Recently, linen yarn spinning companies have filed a case for imposing anti-dumping duty on import of yarn from China. If this happens, then the weavers will not get yarn at competitive rates. Other issues remain the same as that of the input tax credit to power loom sector.” quoted by Federation of Indian Art Silk Weaving Industry (FIASWI) chairman Bharat Gandhi

Textile industry leaders hope to meet the minister to talk about matters concerning power loom units, traders, and processing sector related to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and central government’s help in encouraging the sector, which provides employment to millions of people and generates great export turnover as the Union minister of state for textiles Ajay Tamta will be on a two-day visit to the Diamond City on Wednesday