Budget 2019: Not much for travel and tourism, says MakeMyTrip CEO

Given the agrarian crisis in the country, this Budget appears to have been more focused on rural India and the poor. From the travel and tourism point of view, we are pleased about the Rs 100-trillion investment on infrastructure over the next five years. It is critical that we build better connectivity to key tourist destinations — a sore point for one of the fastest growing industry in India. 

Deep Kalra, Founder & Group CEO, MakeMyTrip

There was no specific mention of fund allocation for UDAN, the regional connectivity scheme, which is disappointing. The domestic travel industry has seen some headwinds over the last few months and needs a boost.  While the single quarterly GST for those with revenue less than Rs 5 crore is a welcome move, further simplification of the GST, including centralised registrations under GST laws to bring compliance burden down for the e-commerce and services sector is required. 

The tax rate on premium hotels also remains staggeringly high compared to popular international destinations like Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, rendering Indian travel and hospitality industry uncompetitive. For start-up and entrepreneurial ecosystem too, there weren’t many substantive announcements barring the proposed easing of angel tax.