Budget FY24 Expectations: Hospitality sector demands Infrastructure Status by GoI

New Delhi, Jan 12 (KNN) One of the main requirements pointed out by the hospitality industry is to be granted Infrastructure Status by the Government of India (GoI) in the upcoming union budget for the fiscal year 2023-24.

Speaking exclusively with KNN, Jaison Chacko, Secretary General, Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) said that this will allow the hospitality sector to avail long term funds under the RBI Infrastructure lending norm criteria to offer quality accommodation supply and in turn, stimulate higher global and domestic travel demand.

Explaining the chief concerns and expectations from the annual budget to be announced on February 1, 2023, he said that although industry status has been accorded to tourism and hospitality by many State Governments, the incentives and privileges associated with an industry have not been conferred to the sector.

“The industry really needs for the Centre to step in and grant industry status to hospitality across the country and set up a corpus fund to incentivize all States to align their policies and set off any losses that may occur due to its implementation,” Chacko told KNN.

He further suggested that apart from this, tourism and hospitality should be placed on the concurrent list of the Constitution to make tourism into a national agenda.

“It will ensure better coordination between the Centre and the State for fund allocation and implementation of projects and programs aimed for the holistic development of tourism sector in the country,” he said.

Reflecting on the FY23 budget, he said the only meaningful announcement for the industry was the extension of ECLGS with additional allocation of Rs 50,000 crore for the sector.

“The special allocation through ECLGS helped support the struggling sector in mitigating some of the pandemic-induced challenges. However, these allocations were not enough for a sector that was so severely hit,” added the head of FHRAI.

Chacko informed KNN that prior to the Union Budget 2022-23, FHRAI had requested Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to provide a favourable consideration to the sector on account of the catastrophic impact of Covid-19.

The association’s major suggestions were to include hotels and tourism related sectors in the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) along with Infrastructure and Industry status for tourism and hospitality.

The industry had also requested for a long-term credit facilities in view of the vulnerabilities and the time required for the hospitality businesses to regain the lost momentum.  (KNN Bureau)