Budget 2022 | Restaurateur Reaction to FM Sitharaman's announcements

Budget 2022 | The Restaurant industry was one of the hardest hit by the Pandemic, specially due to night curfew. Many restaurants shut down due to the losses. Here are inputs and reactions by the restaurateur on the Budget Allocations made by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Rachel Goenka, CEO & Founder, The Chocolate Spoon Company

"The budget presented by the Finance Minister for FY 22-23 was expected to bring about significant relief for the hospitality industry across avenues. The industry as a whole was eagerly waiting for reforms from the restoration of Input Tax Credit (ITC) on GST, relief on all statutory dues, unemployment assistance to extended operating hours for the industry. However, once again we were mentioned only briefly where an Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) of 5 crores along with 50,000 crore to be used to deal with the liquidity crisis was announced. It was very disappointing to see that no specific announcements were made for the Restaurant Industry and we are yet again left to fend for ourselves"

Palak shah- Owner/  founder - Plush café

“The hospitality sector employees a ginormous mass of people across the country and the rock bottom that we’ve hit especially the newly opened eateries this past year find it hard to subsist themselves. A waiver in renewal fees for licenses, non-increment in rental expenditure, uniformity among the tax rates could be a handful of relievers for the restaurants considering the fact that we bring about a massive GDP contribution to our economy as well.”

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