Tag Archives: Finance Minister

Presenting the Union Budget 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a simpler tax regime for foreign shipping companies operating domestic cruises in India, aiming to boost cruise tourism. She highlighted plans for ownership, leasing, and flagging reforms to enhance the domestic shipping industry’s share and create more jobs.

IATO has thanked Finance Minister, GST Council and the Chairman CBIC for favourably considering  two of its recommendations- removal of, GST on services provided outside India to foreign tourists if they take combined package of India and neighbouring countries and  secondly GST for the ferry service hired for transport of passengers including tourists used as public transport from point to point transport in Andaman & aNicobar Islands,  in the GST Council meeting held in Chandigarh.

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.

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO and Pronab Sarkar, Immediate Past President, IATO met with Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister, in her office to thank her for the recent announcements for revival of tourism and also to seek support from the government on issues like SEIS, TCS, GST, ECLGS and export industry status. A communication from IATO mentioned that the meeting was historic and fruitful. On issue of ECLGS, she said that revised rules and guidelines are being issued to the banks. On the other issues raised by the IATO representatives, she gave a very patient hearing and assured to look into their suggestions/recommendations favourably based on its merit.

Thanking the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Tourism Minister for announcement of relief measures for the tourism sector and taking up issues concerning the industry, Rupinder Brar, ADG, Tourism, said, “We welcome the financial help for tourist guides and tour operators. It is also good that the recognised entities are being supported. The support that has come in terms of visa being announced free for the first 500,000 e-Tourist visas that will be applied for, will be a gamechanger. It sends a positive signal to the whole word that India is getting ready to open, the vaccination drive has picked up, number of cases are going down. Through this, we also want to send a message to the industry that please get recognised, so that you can be benefitted by any of the schemes of the government.”

Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, has said that it’s a welcome move by the Finance Minister to announce package or relief for the travel agents and the tourism people, especially the tourist guides, who are registered on the MOT website. “However, I still feel that more should have come for the tourism sector, which is really suffering a huge cash flow crunch, seeing low business and are not even looking at any business coming and reviving quickly. I think more needs to be done, as the 10% which will be useful to some of the smallest players, will not go far for the majority. Hence, the industry in general, has not been helped. However, it’s a small light at the end of the tunnel. We are also looking at the ECLGS scheme and we hope that something more will be added to it. In addition, SEIS would be another perspective that would be looked at. Hence, let’s hope there is some more coming and we keep our fingers crossed that whatever they have announced will be distributed easily and doesn’t just remain on paper. We need ease of getting that amount also. Overall it’s a good move and we are looking for more and I hope it’s the beginning to get more respite,” she added.

Madhavan Menon, Managing Director, Thomas Cook India Group, welcomes the announcement by the honourable Finance Minister, Sitharaman, saying, “This is a much needed step towards the revival of tourism – a sector  that is a significant contributor to the GDP, foreign exchange receipts and employment generation – with a cascading force multiplier effect on allied sectors. The three-pronged approach for the sector covers 100% guarantee for loans up to Rs 10 lakhs per government recognised Travel & Tourism stakeholder (TTS), up to Rs 1 Lakh financial support to over 11000 licensed guides at a state/regional level, and 5 lakh gratis visas that will serve to catalyse much needed inbound inflows.  The stimulus announcements reflect the government’s focus on the travel and tourism sector and augurs well for the industry, while simultaneously building consumer confidence in travel.”

Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance minister, Government of India, has announced financial support to more than 11,000 registered tourist guides/travel and tourism stakeholders through the loan guarantee scheme for COVID-affected sectors. The scheme will cover 10,700 regional level tourist guides recognised by ministry of tourism and those recognised by state governments. It will also cover travel and tourism stakeholders (TTS) recognised by Ministry of tourism. Loans will be provided with 100 per cent guarantee up to Rs 10 lakh for TTS and Rs 1 lakh for tourist guides licensed at regional or state level. She also said that the first five lakh tourist visas that will be issued – once issuance is restarted – for free. These announcements are part of eight measures declared by the centre as relief for the COVID-hit national economy.

Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman has announced Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme 2.0 (ECLGS) for the 26 stressed sectors identified by Kamath Committee, which include tourism, aviation, hotels & restaurants. Under ECLGS 2.0, banks would be able to provide collateral-free, fully guaranteed loans to borrowers on capped interest rates. It supports companies with outstanding dues of Rs 50-500 crore as on 29th Feb, and they would be able to borrow up to 20% of their outstanding dues as on 29th Feb, with a loan tenor set at 5 years. Also there will be a one-year moratorium on principal repayment. The scheme will be available till March 31, 2020.

While the tourism industry was disappointed with the sector not being mentioned in the stimulus package announced by the finance minister, Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary – Tourism, Government of India, has said that the new definition of MSME, which has removed the differentiation between manufacturing and services sector MSMEs, shall benefit tourism as 70-80% of the sector falls under MSME. “Throughout my tenure, I have been hearing from the industry that 70-80 per cent of the stakeholders in tourism fall under the MSME category. The biggest announcement under Atmanirbhar Bharat programme was pertaining to the MSMEs. Hence, we have clarified to the industry that the biggest announcements are there for them as well. The fact that the differentiation of definition between the manufacturing and the services sector MSME, which has been removed and the caps which have been changed for the services sector MSMEs, like tourism sector MSMEs, shall bring benefits. It’s not just the benefits which have been given, but it also further expands the scope of the tourism industry, to be part of the MSME definition and to take the benefits, which are due under the MSME category of Atmanirbhar Bharat announcements. I believe that the industry has started understanding that because they are now bringing out 1-2 difficult areas wherein the tourism industry may not get the kind of benefits it has been expecting. We are bringing up those difficulties to the appropriate authorities to see if we can resolve them, so that more benefits reach out to the MSME tourism industry,” he said.