New Delhi, Dec 31 (PTI) Textile industry plays a major role in boosting India's economy and the central government must consider this as a potential industry which can help India boost its presence across the world, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Friday.

Sisodia made the comments at the GST Council meeting where Delhi government along with others opposed the decision to hike GST on textiles from 5 pc to 12 pc and demanded its withdrawal

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Heeding to demands made by several states, the GST Council on Friday put on hold a decision to hike the tax rate on textiles to 12 per cent from 5 per cent.

The panel, the highest decision-making body for indirect taxes, met under emergency provisions after states made a request for deferring the January 1 hike in GST tax rates on textiles.

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"The Central government should pay special attention to development of textile industry as 4 crore people of the country get employment from it. In this way this industry is running 4 crore families. There are huge job opportunities in this industry. Food, clothes and shelter are the basic needs of every human being. Therefore, while making any policy for the textile industry, NITI Aayog should make a policy for textile industries by keeping the common man in consideration.

"Central government should focus on creating policies to boost job opportunities in this sector. NITI Aayog along with textile traders should work on strategies and policies to address the basic operational and taxation issues being faced by the traders and work on creating more jobs," he said.

Sisodia, who also has the finance portfolio in Delhi, said that the textile industry plays a major role in boosting India's economy, especially in the import and export industry.

"The central government must consider this as a potential industry which can help India boost its presence across the world. The Central Government should work on policies and strategies that will increase textile export in future," he said.

"It is to be noted that exports account for 60 pc of the Rs 55,000 crore Indian home textiles industry. NITI Aayog along with traders should create more jobs in this sector, which can help the industry to boost the production and exports in future," he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)