The powerful Union Minister literally said it on the face of the hotel industry leadership that the government has no policy to support the premium hospitality sector with financial incentives. Coming straight from the Union Minister Piyush Goyal, it has to be construed as the thinking within the government about the sector and its problems.
“We cannot reward 5-star hotels; it will be counter productive,” the minister said. Goyal said that India is not a rich country with a $40,000 per capita income. “5-star hotels have to learn to stand on their foot,” he stated.
“Don’t mix up everything. The issues of the 5-star hotels, if any, have to be dealt with separately,” the Minister said. However, he said that the government is open to discuss common issues like licensing/approvals, and make the process simple and single window-oriented. The policy of the government is to reduce the bureaucratic red-tape in every sector.
Dismissing the suggestion of Vivek Nair to enhance the current investment benchmark under MSME to at least INR 150 cr so that bigger hotel projects can also avail the benefits, Goyal said that the suggestion is “irrational” and will distort the entire MSME definition.“It makes no sense in asking everything from the government,” he said.
Replying to a question by SP Jain of Pride Group on problems in taking foreign exchange earnings benefits, Goyal said that the hotels have to look within to resolve the issue as hotels are considered to charge the highest exchange rate to customers making them look at alternate channels.
Regarding the unlocking of the hospitality sector, Goyal said that the government understands the importance of life and livelihood of people and experiences of other international destinations are also being looked into. He said that the government is open to looking into suggestions if any for reopening from the industry itself before taking the decision on Unlock 3.0.
This article first appeared in IndiaTimes.
