OTOAI writes to PMO, urges immediate rollback of TCS

Outbound tourism traffic from India stands at a complete dead end in the absence of international commercial flights operating from the country. Given the rising number of COVID cases in India, outbound tourism will take a while before picking up again. In light of the same, OTOAI (Outbound Tour Operators of India) has written to the PMO to roll-back the implementation of TCS as this will further kill the business of the travel and tour operators. In addition to the PMO, OTOAI has also written to Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister, Government of India; Shri Pramod Chandra Mody, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance and Shri Prahlad Singh Patel, Tourism Minister, Government of India. OTOAI Team had approached the Ministry of Tourism and PMO in February 2020 as well, soon after TCS was announced and was able to convince the authorities to hold back its implementation by six months.

Speaking on the matter, Riaz Munshi, President, OTOAI, said, “The Aviation Industry is already in turmoil and the condition of the tourism sector is no better. Implementation of TCS will further impact a lot of companies, especially small and medium companies, and will force them to shut the business, which will further add to the alarmingly high number of people losing their jobs in the tourism sector. The travel and tourism industry provides jobs to around 11 per cent of the total population today and the suffering of the Tourism sector will vastly affect the employment quotient of the country. The Government must listen to us and roll-back the implementation of TCS.”