Surat: Textile processing body plans to protest against hike in gas price

Company Performance

Surat: Textile processing body plans to protest against hike in gas price

The recent announcement of industrial gas price hike by the Gujarat Gas Company Ltd (GGCL) has created panic among the textile processing units. The company has announced a price hike of Rs 4.60 per cubic meter effective from January 1, 2012 for supply of natural gas in Surat, Ankleshwar and Bharuch region. The price hike has not gone down well with the industry association South Gujarat Textile Processing Association (SGTPA), which is planning a strong protest against the price hike.

Sources indicate that the gas prices per standard cubic meter in December 2010 was Rs 10 and with newer rates including the price hike the gas prices would be around Rs 26 per standard cubic meter including taxes. This had led to a critical situation among the 450 processing plants in the Surat and south Gujarat. Over the last few years, the textile processing units have invested over Rs 500 crore for switching over to natural gas from coal-based production to reduce cost and it is not possible for switch over to coal again. The association alleges that GGCL is taking advantage of the monopolistic situation and to stage a protest against the company as the processing sector’s competitiveness is at stake. This sector process over 60 million meters of fabric per day fro both domestic and international markets. The hike in gas price would jack up the processing cost of the fabrics by around 20%.