Budget 2020: Expecting Nirmala Sitharaman to address issues around infrastructure, licensing, approvals and inconsistent regulations that are imposed by various states that the hospitality industry is facing, the industry insiders have demanded from the Finance Minister to grant industry status to the hospitality industry. They are of the opinion that they are clubbed with the tourism industry while their nature of business is quite different from the tours and travel companies.

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Speaking on the matter Shwetank Singh, Vice President — Development and Asset Management at InterGlobe Hotels said, “One of our major demands as an industry continues to be infrastructure status for hotels with a capital expenditure of Rs 50 Crores. Since the GST regime has been established, the cost of construction has gone up by 8-10 per cent as the entire civil structure is treated as immovable property. We are hoping to get the option to claim the input tax credit on GST for this." Singh said that the industry has struggled with variation in bylaws, approvals and licenses, which is why a nodal body is required. This will help us in terms of having a proper time-bound escalation mechanism. With these main areas of standardisation we are expecting a positive Union Budget 2020 which keeps the tourism agenda at the core of economic growth.

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Highlighting the issues that Nirmala Sitharaman can address in her Budget presentation Preety Arora, Head - Business Strategy at Amatra Hotels & Resorts said, "With the upcoming Union Budget for 2020-21, we are looking forward to various reforms that would enable the industry to grow exponentially. While the government is aggressive across various global markets with the marketing of India as a tourism destination, it is imperative to focus internally and address issues around infrastructure, licensing, approvals and inconsistent regulations that are imposed by various states." Arora further added that the hospitality industry is expecting reforms to be taken around single-window clearance for all operations related to approvals and licensing that makes day to day workings complicated. Further, easing of GST on F&B equivalent to Room category could be a great boost for inviting more guests into the hotels."