The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) recently hosted two special seminars focused on Goods and Services Tax (GST) and its effects on the hospitality industry. Titled, ‘Bird's Eye View - 5 Years of GST In Hotel & Restaurant Industry’, the seminars were held at The Mirador Hotel in Mumbai on 20th March and later at the Fern Residency in Bhopal on 23rd March 2023. The sessions were conducted by CA Jinit R Shah, who has over 15 years of practice in Chartered Accountancy.

Rishi Mehra - the owner of The Mirador Hotel, Mumbai, Gurbir Bedi, Chairman of Seminar & Business Matters Liaison Sub-Committee, HRAWI and CA Jinit Shah inaugurated the seminar held in Mumbai. In Bhopal, the seminar was inaugurated by Navneet Goel, Chief Commissioner of Customs and GST (Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh); Prabhat Dandotiya, Additional Commissioner Preventive, Bhopal Commissionerate; Tej Kulpal Singh from Bhopal Hoteliers Association; Sumit Suri, Executive Committee Member of HRAWI and the State Coordinator of Madhya Pradesh and Paramjit Singh Ghai, Office Bearer and Honorary Treasurer of HRAWI.

The seminars deep-dived into the several aspects of GST applicable to hotels and restaurants and addressed quite a few lesser-known facts about the new taxation regime. Eighty-seven hospitality professionals from both Mumbai and Bhopal participated in the seminar in their respective cities.

“The GST was introduced on July 1, 2017, as a comprehensive tax reform that aimed to simplify the indirect tax structure in the country. The hotel and restaurant industry was one of the sectors that were affected by the implementation of GST. The industry was previously subject to multiple taxes including service tax, VAT and luxury tax but the introduction of GST simplified taxes with a single tax. However, taxes inherently are a complicated subject especially, for the hospitality industry and so, we thought that after five years under the new tax regime, it was a good time to reflect on how it has worked out so far,” said Pradeep Shetty, President, HRAWI.

“As a hotelier, I found the seminar particularly helpful in clarifying the nuances of GST compliance and identifying areas where we can improve our processes. The case studies presented were relevant and insightful. Thank you again to HRAWI for a job well done,” said Mehra.