New Delhi, Dec 11 (KNN) Citing concerns of the tourism sector comprising of a fair share of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) in the pre-budgetary meeting urged the government to consider revision of Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates.

Talking to KNN after the meeting with the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Aashish Gupta, Consulting CEO of FAITH informed of the points raised by his association as a part of the memorandum for consideration in the upcoming budget.

Referring to the statistics, Gupta informed that India’s tourism despite having huge potential stands only for 0.7 per cent and is not in a very good shape.

In terms of the GST levy on the sector, Gupta said that the industry should be taxed at zero or maximum at 5 per cent and the government must revise the tax on the sector.

With regard to the intermediaries that are taxed under GST, Gupta said that the council must exempt the intermediaries at least that are involved in the tourism business.  Gupta lamented that in India; even the outbound tourists are being taxed, suggesting that this segment should be exempted from taxation.

The tourism in the country comprises of heritage as well as adventure sports, the government must announce a slew of measures to promote the same in the country since it has huge potential both in terms of employment engagement as well as revenue, FAITH added.

The association also urged the finance minister to constitute a special corpus for the promotion of tourism sector in the country.

“The sector calls for promotion, stabilization and handholding, with a dedicated corpus in place, the sector can develop its full potential”, he informed.

Responding to the requests, Finance Minister Jaitley gave the delegation a patient hearing during the pre-budget meeting held by his office last week, Gupta said. (KNN/DA)