GST impact: Slow refunds, rising input costs paralyse Ludhiana businesses

A series of jolts - starting with demonetisation, or note ban, in November 2016 to the roll-out of a new indirect tax regime in July 2017 - has cut to size the city's 50,000-strong MSME base

Jaswant Singh Birdi spent more than four decades in the bicycle industry to finally become the president of the Cycle Trade Union in the industrial town of Ludhiana. But when it came to his two sons joining the business, Birdi took a contrary call. He bankrolled a fried food items shop for them. Rising and ever-fluctuating raw material costs, demonetisation and now the goods and services tax (GST) have broken the back of the bicycle industry, he says, justifying his action.

Disappearing units of Miller Ganj

Things have quietened drastically over the last two years in the serpentine lanes of