The wholesale textile markets in the Walled City Amritsar remain opened even ash the Federation of Textile Traders of Amritsar (FTTA) is yet to take a final call on the strike called to protest against the imposition of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on unstitched clothes.

FTTA president Jatinder Singh Moti Bhatia said that there is no division of opinion about the agitation among the business community. He said that most shops were opened to check any damage following the recent rains.

The next course of action regarding the agitation will be decided by the GST Sangharsh Samiti, headed by Tara Chand Kast, tomorrow. A decision would be conveyed to the traders here accordingly.

According to a trader, the agitation was not likely to have much impact on the policy decision taken by the Central government.

Once called the Manchester of India, the textile industry in the holy city is grappling with problems like rising cost and quality competitive market following global competition, rising cost of raw and changing dynamics of the manufacturing technology.

In fact, during the strike, the traders incurred losses to the tune of crores. He said that weekends record the maximum sale as retailers from rural and remote areas of the state come to procure goods in bulk.