By Aleem Shaikh (Mumbai)
The Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR) in a conference that was held today at their office have announced that there would be no rise in the menu rates at AHAR restaurants even after the GST rates have been slashed to 5 percent.
AHAR which has around 12000 restaurants as its members in Mumbai and have started a poster campaign thanking the government and informing the patrons that the 5 percent GST rate will be levied from November 15.
Adarsh Shetty, President AHAR said, “We are really happy with the GST rates coming down to 5 percent. We have had a tough time for last four months with our revenue going down by 30 percent.” Shetty revealed that the worst affected was the take away business. As many patrons returned their food parcel after the GST was applied on the same.
“We saw a huge dip in take away business. We are really happy that the government has brought Ac and Non Ac restaurants under one umbrella. As ours is the only association which has a blend of both the categories,” Shetty added.
With getting restaurants under one roof we are really thankful of the central and state government and also of our chief minister Devendra Fadavnis, State finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar and Central finance minister Arun Jaitely.
“We have asked all our members to comply with the norms as suggested by the GST council. Not only has this we have already asked our members to make an immediate change in their bill machined to avoid any confusion. It is definitely a win win situation for patrons,” he added.
Out of the 178 items, restaurant industry was one of the luckiest where the GST slab was reduced from 18 and 12 percent to 5 percent after huge hue and cry by the common man, as eating out got expensive.
