Representatives from the Federation of Hotel Restaurant Associations of India met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday and asked for infrastructure status for the hospitality industry in the forthcoming budget.
The RBI infrastructure lending norms for hotels with an investment of more than 200 crore have given them the status of infrastructure under the RBI infrastructure lending norms. The association has requested that the threshold be reduced to Rs 10 crore to give a fillip to budget segment hotels.
This will allow hotels to avail term loans at lower rates of interest and benefit from longer repayment periods. The association argued that hospitality should be classified as an industry that's applicable across the country and to create a corpus that compensates states for any notional losses.
FHRAI put forth specific requests with a special emphasis on granting infrastructure status to the hospitality industry, a release stated.
The association also asked for a continuation of the Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme EPCGS for another 10 years and an extension of the repayment period under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme ECLGS. The association also requested the extension of the loan term for the hospitality sector for another 10 years and an extension of the repayment period under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme ECLGS.
The association requested that the repayment period be extended to 10 years or as per the loan repayment period of the principal loan, whichever is longer.