New Delhi, Dec 19 (KNN) With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning the state elections yesterday for another consecutive term in the state of Gujarat, despite air of discern with regard to the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the industry comprising of a fair share of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises said that they expect government to handhold the sector and ease complications.

Talking to KNN, Dharmendra Joshi, Secretary General of Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry informed that in negation to the news reports that surfaced earlier that GST would prove to be a bottle neck for Gujarat elections; he said that the traders weren’t opposing GST but had issues with the compliance part.

“If one was to go by the GST chaos, Surat was the region that was largely affected by the new taxation, yet the region gave its mandate to BJP, therefore it is clear as to the fact that the industry wasn’t against the taxation but wanted the government to look at easing the operation aspect” he said.

Listing the expectations the industry, especially the MSME sector has from the government, now that it has been reinstated in the state again, Joshi said that the state for long has been asking for a dedicated retail policy.

Also the MSMEs are expecting a more dedicated and engaging approach by the government towards them, since the sector contributes maximum to the employment.

Joshi also informed that the Gujarat government recently formed a MSME Commissionerate. With the office in place, the government is expected to deliver further.

Also the state for long has been demanding textile policy for the state, since Gujarat houses a large chunk of apparel manufacturing MSMEs.

Joshi said that the industry is expecting the government to finally come up with one as it has been pending since long.

The operation glitches that exist with the GST mechanism also needs to be looked upon, Joshi added.

In a mandate of 99 seats out of 182 seat poll bound state, the BJP registered victory yesterday in Gujarat, followed by Congress that registered a close to 80 seats.

(With EC Inputs) (KNN/DA)