Liquor ban to flush out a whopping Rs 200,000 crores

Hotel And Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI), the apex body of restaurateurs and hoteliers of Western India will be meeting Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra today to present the impact of the liquor ban on jobs and other issues.

“Maharashtra alone has 13655 bars & shops, of which over 500 restaurants and bars shall be hit only in Mumbai, while in Mumbai Metropolitan Region 2000 and in the State of Maharashtra 9925 are at a risk of losing business. The Government of Maharashtra would stand to lose Rs. 7000 crores in taxes, excise and license fees, while the country wide impact on the sector is estimated at Rs. 200,000 crores,” says Kamlesh Barot, past President, Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI). This would be in addition to an estimated job loss of over one million heads currently employed in the hospitality sector.

Posting on FaceBook, Priyank Sukhija who owns some of the trending shared, “Last month had to painfully say goodbye to 85 staff members because of the sealing of rooftops in CP which the NDMC has no consideration for... ruining the most epic hub in the country. This month it would be more than 100 after the 500 meter ban. Thousands more are going to lose their job. This India not shining anymore.”

Seeing at the global facts, countries like the US, UK, Singapore and Dubai which is famous for tourism and hospitality has a flourishing restaurant and nightlife business which contributes to their growing GDP. “Unlike many other countries, in India, highways run right through cities and towns. Not only restaurants and bars, but also hotels, malls, cinema houses, clubs and even residential apartments will be found right next to highways. Star rated hotels in Mumbai usually cater to business travelers and inbound foreign tourists. With about fifty hotels in Mumbai, including Sahara Star, Westin, Orchid and others, expected to be affected by the ban, tourists may find themselves exposed to a scenario of severely shrinking choices. This could wreck the demand supply ratio of full service hotels in the city, and affect the tourism infrastructure of the city,” says Dilip Datwani, President, HRAWI.

The ban is not only hitting the overall tourism, but has led many people lose their job. National highways in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Madhya Marg in Chandigarh which has some of the high end bars including Hops N Grains were badly hit by the same making over thousand people lose their job. “Received this message from a musician and it's breaking my heart - Just messaging to inform you that I lost the music contract for the restaurant where I was playing thrice a week on account of the SC decision which was enforced last evening. I would really appreciate if you refer me to any of your contacts which may require musician singer for live acoustic gigs with soulful Bollywood/Sufi music,” posted Riyaaz Amlani, President- NRAI on FaceBook.

Reacting on Twitter, Amitabh Kant, CEO- Niti Aayog said, “Tourism creates jobs. Why kill it? Supreme Court’s highway liquor ban verdict may hit 1 million jobs,” adding that travel & tourism have vast potential to emerge as key employment creator 4for India. It requires predictability, consistency & clarity of policies.

Hence, we can say that this will not only hit tourism in a big way, as India is still considered to be a tourism infra deficient nation, but would also cause huge revenue loss to the exchequer.