The hospitality sector that is one of the largest employment generators and also one of the worst impacted by the pandemic is crestfallen at being overlooked in Budget. With 25-30% hotels and 10-15% restaurants yet to be operational, the sector was hoping for succour from Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. But the expectations have come a cropper.The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH) had in its pre-budget presentations made several proposals, including industry status for the tourism sector, to make them post-Covid-ready. It had also suggested the setting up a corpus to three verticals under the Incredible India tourism campaign: the first related to meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE), the second on adventure tourism and third on heritage tourism.
“There was a need for 100% tax exemption and permission to write back income/TDS/GST to travel agents and tour operators on their transactions when airlines wind up or close down. This would have protected them and also Indian consumers,” rued FAITH chairman Nakul Anand.
Hotel & Restaurant Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) that has over 1,200 members in its fold is still struggling to emerge from the lockdown blues. This financial year, 70% hotels in Kolkata are operational and they are expected to do around 25% of business that was clocked in 2019-2020. The food and beverage industry (F&B) has fared better with 85-90% operational and 40% recovery in business.
“Industry status would have led to lower electricity tariffs and lower rates of borrowing. Also, we were really hoping for a loan restructuring scheme or moratorium. But there was absolutely nothing,” said HRAEI president Sudesh Poddar.
Apart from liquidity support, National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) members were hoping for rationalisation of GST structure, including restoration of input tax credit.
“It was disappointing to see that no specific announcements were made for the overall hospitality sector in the Budget,” said NRAI Kolkata chapter head Sagar Daryani.
Many restaurateurs like the MD of Chowman, Oudh 1590 and Chapter 2, Debaditya Chaudhury, were looking forward to the Budget as a means of recovery. “Many restaurants are still shut and may never be able to open again without support,” he pointed out.
Pradeep Rozario, owner of Kurry Klub Fusion and Mio Amore, also feels that even with existing structure input tax credit should have been introduced.
Source: Times of India
