Asia’s largest hub of man-made fabric – Surat gave a thumping win to the ruling party BJP in the State elections. The party won 15 of the 16 seats in the city, which is home to around 65,000 traders, mostly Patidars. The city that grounded to a halt a few months ago as thousands of textile traders shut down markets in protest against the imposition of new tax regime, Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India. Similarly, Ahmedabad, another textile hub also gave a big win to BJP.

Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FSTTA), former president, Sanjay Jagnani said, “No doubt, we were unhappy with the GST but the BJP Government in the state and at the Centre took several steps to correct the mistakes. On the other hand, we were not confident that the Congress would solve our problems. It is BJP which is ruling at the Centre and the trading community is comfortable with this party.”

According to the Federation, Surat, with a daily turnover of Rs. 400 crores, is running 700,000 looms to manufacture 4 crore metres of cloth every day. The city also houses around 125,000 embroidery units.

– Apparel and Textile News, Apparel Talk, Indian Apparel