Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along with Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia discussed banking and credit-related issues with representatives from the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors on February 25.

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The meeting was attended by senior officials of the Finance Ministry and heads of various public sector banks and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

The primary agenda of the meeting was to discuss banking and credit lending to the three sectors. Representatives from the aviation, tourism and hospitality sectors informed the finance minister of the difficulties they have been facing since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The government may give infrastructure status to the aviation and hospitality sectors, which means cheaper loans for aviation companies and access to infrastructure debt funds.

Aviation ministry representatives also requested the government to bring aviation turbine fuel (ATF) under the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The government may consider giving certain relaxations in excise duties till ATF is brought under the GST regime.

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At the meeting, the Sitharaman said she would look at bringing ATF under GST. The government also assured the industry representative of taking concrete steps to bring the aviation and hospitality sectors back on the growth path.

In Budget 2022-23, Sitharaman had proposed to support the hospitality and related services sector by opening an additional Rs 50,000-crore window under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS).

Saying that the hospitality and related services, especially the micro and small enterprises, were yet to regain the pre-pandemic level of business, the finance minister had extended the ECLGS up to March 2023 and expanded its guarantee cover by Rs 50,000 crore to a total of Rs 5 lakh crore. The additional amount was exclusively earmarked for the hospitality and related sectors.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)