Thousands of textile merchants and traders in Surat had shut their shops since the last two weeks protesting against the new tax structure have today called off their strike following the Centres assurance to look into their demand for its roll back.

The announcement to withdraw the protest was made today by the traders who met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Delhi yesterday.

Manoj Agrawal, a textile trader said that during the meeting, Jaitley assured them that the issue of the GST on cloth will be taken up in the next GST Council meeting to be held on August 5. Thus, they have decided to call off the strike till that date.

If no favourable decision comes in that GST council meeting, they will think of going on strike again to raise their demand for abolishing the five percent GST, he said.

Surat has one of the biggest textile markets in the country. On July 3, thousands of protesting traders had gathered near the Ring Road in Surat, where the main market is situated, demanding scrapping of GST on textiles.

On July 8, the textile traders organised a silent march here to protest against five per cent GST imposed on the sector.