Financial Express reports that demonetisation and glitches in GST implementation has led to a loss of 4 lakh jobs, erosion of wages, and reduced exports in the textile industry in Surat.
The Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA) claims that after the rollout of the new tax structure, over 4 lakh jobs have been lost with many of the textile units in the city running far below their installed capacity. Moreover, the past 18 months have seen sales slump by about 30-40 % and payments getting delayed.
It further mentions that the small and unorganised textile units are not able to comprehend the complex GST rules. The delay in refund has also led to a fall in export orders.
Nearly a year and half after demonetisation, the second order effects are beginning to show up. The recent shortage of currency is another such second order effect. Any big macroeconomic shock will have multiple rounds of effects – the growth slowdown and all the associated effects in 2016-17 was just the first order effect. Unfortunately, I believe we’ll see many more stories of particular industries getting affected in novel ways due to the double whammy of demonetisation and the faulty implementation of GST.