Tag Archives: FHRAI

FHRAI has submitted a comprehensive list of recommendations on the upcoming Union Budget 2022-23 to the Finance Ministry outlining some of the much-needed expectations of the Hospitality industry. “We are requesting that hotels & tourism related sectors be included in infrastructure projects listed in the NIP set up under the DFI by the Ministry of Finance for promoting infrastructure funding”, said Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President, FHRAI.

Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) and Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) have jointly planned to organise a nationwide campaign to sensitize industry stakeholders including the Police as well as general public about hotels or wedding venues not requiring to obtain license for playing any sound recording for marriage and related social or religious functions held at the venues.

FHRAI has submitted a representation to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman requesting her intervention for notifying the Rs60,000 crore sanctioned under the Loan Guarantee Scheme for COVID-affected sectors that was announced on June 28. The Association has stated that neither the operational guidelines nor any other details of the scheme have been announced by the Ministry so far.

A joint delegation of members from HRAWI, FHRAI, NRAI, AHAR and HAI met Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the continued timing restrictions on restaurants in the state, and informed the CM of restaurateurs’ distress. Thackeray has assured that he will be present in the next meeting of the COVID-19 task force and look for ways for a graded reopening of the restaurant sector.

FHRAI has submitted a representation to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman requesting reintroduction of the scheme granting ex-gratia payment of the difference between compound interest and simple interest for six months to borrowers from the hospitality sector in view of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The scheme was formerly announced in October last year.

Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has submitted a representation to the CEO of NITI Aayog – Amitabh Kant – highlighting hospitality industry’s plight with reference to Oyo’s business model. The Association has specifically pointed out that certain recent activities conducted by Oyo to earn goodwill have actually come at the expense of partner hotels.

Pradeep Shetty, FHRAI’s Joint Honorary Secretary, has said that while they are happy the disastrous state of affairs of the sector and the plight of millions of workforce employed in the sector have been recognised by the government, the promotion of domestic tourism is the need of the hour. “Therefore, we request the government to incentivise domestic tourism as well,” he says.

Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has requested Arun Singhal, CEO, Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) to extend the timeline to implement the mentioning of FSSAI License number on bills for FBOs on the backdrop of the pandemic’s impact to Hospitality businesses. The association says that it is in favour of the FSSAI’s latest order, which will help set up a robust customer grievance system in the country. “FHRAI appreciates the FSSAI’s endeavour to set up a robust customer grievance system in the country. This will also improve the overall awareness of FSSAI and its underlying objectives of creating a safe and hygienic ecosystem for FBOs. While this is a great initiative, it has to be taken into account that at present, the tourism and hospitality is the most impacted sector by the COVID19 pandemic. In all probabilities, it will be the last one to recover as well. During such times of deep crisis, the implementation of this order would entail a lot of additional expenses on businesses. Printing new receipts, invoices, bills, cash memos as well as updating software and PMS, among other ancillary activities will only burden the cash-strapped industry even more. Hence, we request the FSSAI to extend the timeline for implementation of the order until such time that some normalcy returns to the sector,” says Mr Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President, FHRAI.

In the ongoing row over unethical business practices involving MakeMyTrip and Goibibo (Go-MMT) giving the preferential listing to Oyo and putting other budget hotel franchises at disadvantage, a division bench of the Gujarat High Court has directed the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to afford Oyo Rooms an opportunity of hearing. On the said matter, FHRAI is pitching for open and fair competition in the market and intends to put an end to the disruption caused by Oyo.

In the latest hearing of the Oyo Insolvency case before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), the Tribunal has allowed the intervention of Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) on behalf of hotels. The FHRAI has intervened on behalf of its member hotels that are operational creditors who are suffering hugely on account of non-payments of debt by Oyo. FHRAI members have filed claims before the IRP of around Rs93 crore and the Association expects more hotels to submit their claims before the next hearing on June 21, 2021.