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Surat: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting the budget for 2026-27 on February 1. Surat, known as Asia’s largest textile industry, has high hopes for this budget. Surat’s textile market has an annual turnover of approximately Rs 1.5 lakh crore and is the leader in the country, especially in the polyester sector. Trade associations believe that if the government accepts their reasonable demands, Surat’s industry can give a strong competition to countries like China at the global level.
According to textile industry leaders, any business can move forward only when it gets continuous research and a new package of education. Currently, there is an urgent need for a Research and Development (R&D) center and a textile university in Surat to compete with the global market. Traders have demanded from the government that Surat be given a special textile university in the upcoming budget so that the youth of Surat can make new and creative contributions to this industry.
In the current economic structure, some sections of MSME Portal and Income Tax are creating confusion for traders. Especially with regard to Section 43B(h), it has been submitted to the government that changes are necessary to encourage entrepreneurs and women in view of the current situation of developing India. Just as the income tax system has become stronger, there has been a demand to make the MSME Portal stronger and more business-friendly.
Self-reliance and subsidies in machinery production
To boost the ‘Swadeshi’ and ‘Make in India’ campaigns, it is imperative that textile machinery is manufactured in India. Currently, machinery worth crores of rupees is imported from abroad. Traders have requested that if the government provides appropriate subsidies to local machinery manufacturers, then India can also become self-reliant in the machinery sector. Apart from this, the visa process is also expected to be simplified to adopt foreign technology.
There is still some resentment among traders regarding GST. Mainly, if the supplier does not pay the tax, it is recovered from the buyer, which is a process that has been sought to be improved. In addition, there is a demand that the RCM (Reverse Charge Mechanism) should be paid in cash instead of ITC. The technical difficulties in getting old tax refunds for packaging materials are also a matter of concern for traders.
The demand to reduce the tax burden on the famous lehenga industry of Surat is gaining momentum. Currently, 18% GST is levied on lehengas priced above Rs 2,500. Traders say that in today’s inflationary era, the amount of Rs 2,500 is very small. The burden of this tax increases a lot for the middle class people on the occasion of marriage. Therefore, if this limit is increased in the budget, both traders and general consumers can get a big relief.
“Our Surat textile market is a Rs 1.5 lakh crore industry and it is the largest textile market in the country in the polyester sector. We have high hopes from the upcoming budget. So far, the government has considered many demands sent by our organization or other organizations. Our main demand is that the central government should do something for Research and Development (R&D). Because without research and without the education of the next generation, no new business can move forward. Today we have to compete with the global market, so the government should make a special budget for Surat for Research and Development and universities” said Ashish Gujarat, textile industry leader.
Talking about the MSME portal, keeping in mind the way our goods returns increase in two-three months every year, just as the income tax system has been strengthened, the MSME portal should also be strengthened a little more. There are some laws that the government has come to know that it wants to amend, such as 43B(h).
“We have requested the government that at present our India is a developing country, women are still moving forward as entrepreneurs in very small numbers. Considering the development of the country, both should be kept separate at present, so that the skills of women and their participation can be known separately. There are many other demands that we have sent to Nirmala Sitharamanji through this letter. In this letter, we have presented many small demands of income tax. In MSME and GST too—a big issue of GST is that whoever is the buyer, if the supplier does not pay tax, then that tax is collected from the buyer. This process should be simplified and the government should pay attention to it. The government always brings a good budget, we are fully confident that the government will pay attention to our demands and for the next budget” said Kailash Hakim, president of FOSTTA.
English (US) ·