Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) has said that a survey conducted by it to make an objective assessment of the slowdown in various sectors of industry and trade in the state and to facilitate adoption of corrective measures to remedy the situation has revealed startling results.
According to the survey, the overall impact of the economic slowdown is to the extent of 50 to 60 per cent in large industries and the commercial sector, whereas it is about 60 to 70 per cent in small-scale industries.
Admitting that the sectoral positions in industries and trade vary, GCCI president Kalyan J Shah said what is more disquieting is the fact that there are no buyers for goods, and trade as well as industry are experiencing serious shortage of working funds.
He felt that if such a pathetic situation is allowed to continue it would only result in large-scale closure in industry and trade as most of them are operating in the range of 25 to 33 per cent of their capacity.
Emphasising that this situation is bound to have an adverse impact on the sales-tax revenue of the Gujarat government and octroi income of the civic corporations, the GCCI president called for prompt revival measures on the part of both the Union and state governments.
