Budget 2018: Tejas Parulekar Shares What Hospitality Sector Wants

Ahead of the Union Budget 2018 on February 1, Tejas Parulekar, founder of Saffronstays.com, shares with us what the hospitality industry expects from Budget 2018. 

GST

The hospitality industry is reeling under the massive GST burden. Currently, one holiday can be taxed anywhere from 18% - 28%. With hardly any input credits, the entire impact is passed on to customers thereby making holidays expensive. On the other hand, there's hardly any investment by the government in building good infrastructure for tourism. Food at restaurants has been brought under 5% bracket, but there's no respite for the hospitality industry. We hope the Budget will rationalise the GST impact to bring to 12% bracket. Holidays are not to be treated as 'sin' goods to be taxed so exorbitantly.

Support for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are not proactively encouraged in the Indian economy. A program that would develop a separate fund that would be easily accessible, information that would always be available, and processes that would be straight-forward, simple and minimal, would ensure higher registrations of entrepreneurs. The market is great for entrepreneurs and the budget must make those budding businesses can grow to their potential.

Skill Development

While there is skill development and training set up by the government, the program is not easy to access. Better awareness about skill development for rural areas should be focused upon to improve the livelihood of all sectors.

Better Road Connectivity

The Tier I and Tier II cities in India have allocated budgets for better roads and good connectivity. Travel, Hospitality and Tourism is something that aims to move beyond these cities, but cannot progress as desired due to the lack of funds that are allocated for solely better national and state highways. Take Maharashtra, for example, The opportunity for tourism is immense, but since most areas are inaccessible, given the shoddy road connectivity, smaller town lose out on tourism and employment opportunities.

Also Read: Tripti Shinghal Somani Puts Forth Her Pre-Budget Expectations

The ideas listed here are based on the author’s research.  This post does not necessarily represent the platform’s views and opinions.