Textile industry seeks end to dual octroi

The textile industry of Surat will seek abolishment of double octroi duty by the municipal corporations.

A decision to this effect was taken during a joint meeting of the trade committee of The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and the Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association.

"The textile traders are paying double octroi on textiles since a long time. The traders have to pay octroi on the textiles which are brought in the city. A large quantity of the textiles are sent to various cities in the state for value addition work such as baandhni, mirror-work, hand-dyeing, embroidery, among others," said Devkishan Manghani, the federation's spokesman.

"The octroi has already been paid on the textiles. When textiles are brought back in the city after value additions, octroi has to be paid once again. Thus traders have to pay octroi twice on the same textile. This is leading to higher manufacturing cost. This is hurting the textile industry. Businessmen are also moving to states like Rajasthan, where there is no octroi duty," he said.

"The textile industry is suffering heavily on account of the wrong policy, which should be brought to an end at the earliest. We plan to raise the issue with the state government in the very near future," Manghani added.

The issue of harassment by the octroi officials also figured in the meeting. "Under the guise of conducting checks, the octroi officials enter any firm or premises, and cause unnecessary harassment. Many a times, documents are seized from the firms without any valid reasons. If the octroi officials are serious about curbing octroi duty evasion, they should intensify the checks at the octroi centres. After all, no goods can enter Surat without passing through an octroi point," a chamber official said.

A decision to take the issue of Surat airport to the Prime Minister was also taken during the meeting.

"Successive governments have made a mockery of Surat, as far as the airport is concerned. The people of Surat have been fooled with false promises all these years. The way things are going ahead, it would be many years, before a properly functional airport comes up at Surat. With several ambitious projects, this is the last thing the trade & industry of Surat wants," the official said.

"It was decided during the meeting that the trade bodies of Surat, including the chamber, diamond association, textile associations, and others would seek a meeting with the Prime Minister, and ask him to intervene in the matter," he added.