New Delhi, July 07: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee
on Tuesday said there was a case for looking into the demands of
the hospitality industry, which had sought tax breaks and
infrastructure status in the Budget 2009-10, presented to the
Parliament on Monday.
"There is a case. Let me revisit it once again. I shall
have to look into it, in consultations with others...,"
Mukherjee said at a post-Budget interaction with Indian
industry representatives.
He said the hospitality industry issues were considered,
"but we found that it is difficult to do it (accept demands)
right now. I do not say that there is no case...To what extent
I can provide some incentives, I can`t comment."
Mukherjee was responding to comments from Bharat Hotels
Ltd Chairperson and Managing Director Jyotsna Suri, who said
hospitality industry provides "six per cent of total
employment in the country and contributed...Rs 50,000 crore in
foreign exchange in 2008-09. It is unfair that our industry is
completely ignored."
She said the industry is capital as well as people
intensive and should be given infrastructure status, besides
being exempted from paying tax on foreign exchange earnings.
Suri said the government should also provide tax holidays
to all the new hotels being constructed, throughout the
country.
The hospitality industry had expressed disappointment
with the Budget, saying that it wasn`t even mentioned in the
Finance Minister`s speech.
"The Budget did not give the hospitality and tourism
industry the importance that it deserves, specially when the
country expects from our industry to generate more and more
jobs," Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India
(FHRAI) President M P Purushothaman had said reacting to the
Budget.
He said there is nothing in the Budget to aid sectoral
growth and capacity expansion for "us to maintain the
competitive edge as a cost effective tourist destination."
Even the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI)
expressed unhappiness over the Budget.
"Not a single item regarding the sector has been
addressed. There is no mention of export industry status for
hospitality and tourism, no tax holiday as demanded, no
rationalisation of Section 80 HHD of the Income Tax Act under
which travel operators could invest their savings in the
industry," TAAI President Rajji Rai said.
"The travel industry is one of the biggest employers. The
government must wake up to the harsh reality that the
precursor to economic revival is the tourism sector," Rai
added.
Bureau Report
