Know Your City: From home-based businesses to busy markets, how Surat’s textile industry has evolved since 1970s

Textile traders of Surat, known for its man-made yarns and brocade industry, would run their businesses from their homes before the seventies.

Textile traders of Surat, known for its man-made yarns and brocade industry, would run their businesses from their homes before the seventies. The inauguration of the STM led to the consolidation of the business under one roof, and some buyers from outside soon became traders and settled down in Surat. A revolving restaurant located atop the STM is a landmark, claiming to be “India’s first revolving restaurant”.

Today the Surat Textile Market is dominated by Marwadis, Jains, Sindhis, Punjabis and Haryanvis.

Surat’s textile markets are spread on both sides of Ring Road and the Saroli area. There are 221 textile markets housing over 80,000 shops and employing over 5.5 lakh people including labourers, accountants and salesmen. The Ring Road area is near the Surat railway station, as a result of which retailers from different parts of the country come to the city to buy sarees, dress materials and other textile items.

Arora recalls how he came to Surat with his father Sobharam for shopping. “I started doing business at the age of 15 years. I would accompany my father on his visits to Surat to purchase sarees,” he says.

“Morarji Desai had said in his speech that a day will come when the textile trading business, which is presently in the hands of Surati people, will be snatched away from the hands of Surati people by outsiders. Today, his words have come true. Very few traders are Suratis, while the markets are dominated by Marwadis, Jains, Haryanvis, Punjabis and Sindhis. There are 1,500 shops in the STM. The market was built by local Surati businessmen such as Himson Group, Vakhariya Group and two others. The purpose of building a market was to make all the traders available at one place for the benefit of buyers coming from other states,” says Arora.

Veterans of the industry recall how the textile business was done before the seventies.

Veterans of the industry recall how the textile business was done before the seventies.

Jitubhai Vakhariya, president of the South Gujarat Textile Processing Association, is 63 years old. He says, “My father Popatlal Vakhariya was running a textile business from our old home on Khangad Street in Salabatpura. There were handlooms and later power-looms for weaving grey cloth. Once the cloth gets ready it reaches dyeing and printing mills, from where it teaches the traders. There were around 30 dyeing and printing houses in Surat. But many weavers dyed grey cloth at their homes through “tapela dyeing”, in which a huge vessel containing colour and chemicals is heated with raw fabric kept inside. The buyers would land at the Surat railway station and reach adatiya (commission agents) at Salabatpura. The agents would bring them to our homes to buy sarees.”

Khatris, Ranas and Muslims now make up most of the population in Salabatpura in the Walled City area. The power-looms and handlooms were run at houses with family members involved in production. Male members dealt with customers and commission agents.

Vakhariya adds, “My father and others bought shops in the STM with an intention to expand the business and it did expand. We still have our shop in the STM. As our business grew, we started power-loom units and now run a dyeing and printing mill in Pandesara. We have expanded the business and are very much satisfied.”

Following the success of the STM, a few other markets like Bombay Market, 451 Market, Reshamwala Market were built by 1980. Later the business grew and many buyers coming from other states and commission agents aquired shops in these markets. “They bought houses, became residents of Surat and their children were born and brought up here,” says Jay Lal, a senior textile trader who hails from Haryana.

Earlier, buyers coming from other states trusted commission agents and bought sarees from houses by paying in cash. Over a decade and a half, the terms and conditions of payment have changed; now goods are sold on 90-day credit. And traders take back rejected or unsold goods.

Kailash Hakim, president of the Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association, says, “The textile industry of Surat has progressed a lot thanks to factors such as the easy availability of yarns, power-looms, dyeing and printing mills and labourers as well as the lack of union problems. Traders and buyers coming from outside both feel safe here…”

To attract customers, value additions are done on sarees and dress materials like embellishments, embroidery work and laces. Earlier, buyers from other states would come and check fabric, designs and colours and give orders. Nowadays, such details are shared on WhatsApp before orders are placed. Apart from this, e-commerce platforms have also helped expand the business in the market.

Surat’s sarees and dress materials have the highest demand in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and South Indian states. One factor behind the growth of Surat’s textile markets is the presence of all segments of the industry in the city. Manoj Agrawal, a former president of FOSTTA, says while the textile weaving industry is well established in Maharashtra, goods from there also land in Surat, because the neighbouring state does not have other segments of the industry.

Whereas there were around nine textile transport firms during the seventies, over 225 such firms transport textile goods to other states. Yuvjraj Deshle, 59, president of the Surat Textile Goods Transport Association, says, “I joined the transport business in Surat in 1979 as a driver. We used to travel to different states to deliver textile parcels. On an average 35 trucks loaded with textile parcels would then leave for other states daily. Now over 230 trucks leave Surat daily with textile goods.”