SURAT: The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) will represent the issues faced by the garment manufacturers in south Gujarat's first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for garment and textile before Union minister of textile Dayanidhi Maran during his visit to the city on Wednesday.
SGCCI president Nilesh Mandlewala said, "The Surat Apparel Park SEZ is a loss-making venture following the decreased demand from the key markets abroad. I will put the matter before the textile minister that the government should take immediate steps to denotify the apparel park from SEZ status."
Dayanidhi Maran will be meeting the office-bearers of the SGCCI and the representatives of various textile associations and leading textile industrialists and entrepreneurs on Wednesday.
According to Mandlewala, office-bearers of the Surat Apparel Park Association (SAPA) are scheduled to meet the minister under the leadership of Arun Jariwala, chairman of Federation of Indian Art Silk Weaving Industry (FIASWI) on Wednesday.
Apart from the apparel park issue, the SGCCI will be representing various other issues to enable the growth of the decentralized synthetic textile industry in the city.
Some of the demands include reduction in the excise duty on textile machinery, raising the capital subsidy in the Textile Upgradation Fund (TUF) from 15 per cent to 20 per cent, revision of eight per cent excise duty on synthetic fibre and filament yarn and abolition of anti-dumping duty on yarn.
