MUMBAI: While thanking the Maharashtra government for giving 7.5% relief in excise fees in the fiscal 2022-23, the hospitality industry in the state has urged the chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to offer 50% fees waiver for the previous fiscal 2021-22 as according to hoteliers the actual operational days at 100% capacity were only 28 out of 365 days.
It is a known fact that almost 30% of Hotels and Restaurants have shut permanently in the subsequent waves of the Pandemic. Several lakhs of employees and the owners were displaced and lost their livelihood. Unfortunately, despite this deplorable plight no relief has been granted to this industry, said a letter by the Hotels and Restaurants Association of Western India (HRAWI) to the CM.
The Association has pointed out that with restrictions of varying extent and nature imposed by the Disaster Management Authority on the license holders, hotels and restaurants in only 14 districts out of the 36 could fully operate and that too just for twenty-eight days (i.e for one month out of 12) between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022. The remaining 22 districts across the State continue to operate with restrictions even today.
"Maharashtra has around 10,500 hotels and 210,000 restaurants and over the last 24 months around 3,000 hotels and 60,000 restaurants have permanently shut down. Around 50 lakh employees, roughly 40 per cent directly engaged in the industry in the State lost their jobs. During the lockdown period, Maharashtra’s hospitality industry has suffered a revenue loss of approximately Rs.5,000 Cr monthly. All this was a consequence of the severe nature of restrictions imposed on the industry. As things stand, it is only fair that the Government waives off 50 per cent of the Excise Licence Fee for that FY,” said Sherry Bhatia, President, HRAWI.
"We thank the Government for the partial roll back in the increase in the fee for the coming financial year but the fact remains that the industry has suffered massive losses over the last two years. The roll back is definitely welcome but the industry needs a lot more than a 7.5 per cent relief on the previously notified fee. Most industries in the State have been offered relief in stamp duty and tax benefits but the hospitality industry is being hung out to dry,” said Pradeep Shetty, Sr. Vice President, HRAWI.
"Significant capital has been ploughed in by the industry to reopen and restart operations and is continuing to make efforts to bring back workers. Moreover, inflation caused due to hike in petroleum price as well as of the general increase in all raw materials of up to 40 per cent, has put owners in a very difficult situation. Hence, we request the state to either offer a uniform waiver of 50 per cent or charge license fees for the FY 2021-22 to the extent of duration during which establishments were allowed to operate,” Shetty added.
"Through the last two years, despite no business due to restrictions, restaurants continued paying for salaries, property taxes, statutory fees, electricity, water and other overheads. We hope that the State Government will consider our request favourably and extend urgent reliefs to the industry,” said Bhatia.
