Tag Archives: Industry status

The Directorate of Tourism (DoT), Maharashtra Tourism, Govt. of Maharashtra is finally kick-starting the inspection of hotels for awarding industry status to them. The Tourism Directorate of Pune is the first one to commence the inspection on the 3rd and 4th August 2022. A total number of 181 non-classified hotels have registered and applied since June 2021 in Pune region that the inspection committee and the appointed agency will be visiting. The Government of Maharashtra had awarded Industry status to the Hospitality sector in April 1999 but that remained only on paper and wasn’t implemented. In 2020, there was a development in the decision when the State government issued the GR, announcing the criteria for levying taxes and charges at the industrial rate for the non-classified hotels. Since then, non-classified hotels were appealed to register and apply to avail the benefits. And now, as the regional offices have received a considerable number of registrations, the inspection committee will begin their site visits. The Committee will be chaired by the Deputy Directors of the respective regions, a representative of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) department, regional representative of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), local representative of Hotel and Restaurant Association (HRA) and a representative of Tour Operator Association (TOA). The agency Qualstar has prepared a road map for inspecting sites which will be followed by the committee. Dr. Dhananjay Sawalkar, Joint Director, Directorate of Tourism (DoT) informed, “So far 446 applications across Maharashtra have been received by DoT. After inspection, if these hotels fulfill all the said criteria, they will be eligible to receive industrial status. This will make electricity charges, water bill, property tax and,non-agricultural tax available to the registered …

The hospitality sector is a critical part of the tourism industry. COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on Maharashtra, and the state government has been taking concrete steps to revive the tourism industry. In this regard, the Maharashtra government had announced that from 1 April 2021, hotels in the state registered with the Union Ministry of Tourism to be charged an industrial rate for electricity, seed fee, water tax, property tax, development tax, increased carpet area index, and non-agricultural tax. Hotels that are not registered with the Union Ministry of Tourism will be charged tax at the industrial rate only after meeting the stipulated criteria for attaining basic minimum standards. The state government also established an expert committee for this cause and also ensured that the process of meeting the criteria is completed within the duration of two months. Following that, hotels that meet the conditions for the online application process are levied taxes and fees at the industrial rate. The state government issued this decision in compliance with the approval given at the cabinet meeting on 5 November 2020. The mechanism in place is assisting in the growth of hospitality businesses by providing industry status in a fast and effective manner, as well as promoting sustainable practices.

Rajasthan government has accorded industry status to the tourism and hospitality sector in the state. The notification came through an official statement by Shanti Dhariwal, Minister of Urban Housing Development and Local Self Department. The announcement for the same was made in the budget announcement in February by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.