India’s tourism industry has lauded the proposed Budget allocation of Rs 2,500 crore for the financial year 2020-21. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the improvement of the tourism industry is directly related to growth and job creation. “This is imperative towards education and skill development of our sector (tourism) that contributes a significant 10% to India’s GDP. Additionally, (tourism) plays a critical force-multiplier role in job creation–accounting for 26.7 million jobs in 2018 and is expected to provide employment to nearly 53 million people, directly and indirectly by 2029,” said Madhavan Menon, chairman and managing director, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. The minister, while presenting the Budget for FY21, highlighted that India has moved up from rank 65 in 2014 to 34 in 2019 on Travel & Tourism Competitive Index of the World Economic Forum. She said foreign exchange earnings grew 7.4% to Rs 1.88 lakh crore for January-November 2019 from Rs 1.75 lakh crores a year ago. Vishal Suri, managing director, SOTC Travel also said the new personal income tax regime would put higher disposable incomes in the hands of the individuals, by allowing an option of a lower rate regime if all exemptions (including investment-linked exemptions) are foregone. “This step would induce consumer spends and inevitably help consumption across sectors, especially tourism,” he added.
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