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Discriminatory treatment to restaurants & bars

Discriminatory treatment to restaurants & bars
  • PublishedJune 4, 2020

We are perhaps the only sector in the country which doesn’t get GST input credits, which is grossly unfair and discriminatory. Moreover, we have paid bar license fees but are now not allowed to operate due to COVID-19. Shouldn’t rightfully the bar license fees be refunded back to us, if we are not allowed to operate? This would have facilitated the severely compromised cash flow in India’s food service business.

Forget about any other benefits/ support from the Government, but input credit under GST should be for every sector. Rentals are a large chunk of our costs and GST applicable on that is 18 percent, so this has a huge impact on our industry. And if you are not operating then why should be bar license fee charged? At the very least we should be allowed home delivery/ takeaway as in other parts of the world. These two basics should be taken care of. In addition to these some of the other support mechanisms have been asked by the industry to overcome this huge crisis.

We have been perceived as a non-essential industry, while on the other hand, we generate substantial jobs in numbers. India’s restaurant/bar business generates significant amount of revenues and provides handsome taxes to the government exchequer and employs large numbers of people, thereby alleviating the country’s fiscal and unemployment problem to some extent.

Written By
Spiritz Desk

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