The South Gujarat Textile Processors Association was established in 1976. IT was recognized under the B.I.R. Act, 1846, as an Association of employers. It was started with about sixty Dyeing and Printing Units as their members. Since then, Textile Processing Industry has flourised leaps and bound in South Gujarat particularly in Surat district. There are nearly five lakhs of powerlooms in Surat, which consumes yarn of about four lakhs of metric tons in preparing the grey fabrics. About two crores meters of grey textile is manufacture daily in Surat. Today there are about 350-400 Dyeing and Printing Units located in and around Surat i.e. Pandesara, Sachin, Kadodara and Palsana. These Dyeing and Printing Units are engaged in processing of man-made fabrics, i.e. Dyeing, Bleaching,Printing, Finishing of grey fabrics. Mostly these units are processing the grey fabrics on job work basis. They receive the grey fabrics from the Traders / Merchant Manufacturers of the market and process the fabrics as per their requirement. There are about 150 wholesale markets in Surat. The city of Surat is now known as "Silk City".