Mar 25, 2020
NRAI has demanded some pay cover marginal employees working in this sector, postponement of all statutory dues at the central and state level, moratorium on bank loans and restoration of the input tax credit on GST
National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI), has penned to the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman requesting financial help from the government for the restaurant and hotel industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that has severely hit the foodservice industry of India. NRAI0 has demanded some pay cover marginal employees working in this sector, postponement of all statutory dues at the central and state level, moratorium on bank loans and restoration of the input tax credit on GST.
“The Union and the State Governments are two of the most important stakeholders and we are pinning lots of hope on them to bail us out of this unprecedented crisis. Some of our salient demands is some pay cover for the marginal employees in the sector, deferment of all statutory dues at the central and state level, a moratorium on bank loans, restoration of input tax credit on GST for the sector and a general invocation of force majeure clause in view of this global Pandemic,” said Anurag Katriar, President of NRAI and CEO & Executive Director of deGustibus Hospitality.
According to Katriar, the restaurant industry with an annual turnover of approximately Rs. 4 lac crore which provides direct employment to over 7 million Indians is in a very risky situation currently, fighting a dingy battle for its basic survival. “In these times of unprecedented crisis, the fate of 7.30 million employees in the F&B sector is our biggest concern. We don’t want them to suffer but unfortunately, we don’t have adequate resources to support them for long. Foodservice industry operates with a very high proportion of fixed operating expenses which makes our business very high-risk even in case of moderate revenue fluctuations,” said Katriar.
“Now we are staring at almost zero revenue in the immediate term and at least drop 50% for months thereafter. We are therefore seeking support from everyone in the ecosystem in mitigating these fixed operating costs so that our losses are contained to manageable levels,” Katriar added.