Jammu business community asks for 75% staff salary support, interest relief

ZT NEWS NETWORK

JAMMU: Advisor to Lt Governor, KK Sharma today met various Business Associations at Udhyog Bhawan here to discuss revival of Business Sector in Jammu and Kashmir.

Financial Commissioner, Finance, Dr Arun Mehta, Commissioner Secretary Industries and Commerce, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Commissioner Secretary Tourism, Zubair Ahmad attended the meeting through video conferencing while other senior officers of the concerned departments were present in the meeting.

At the outset, the Advisor invited suggestions for reviving the Business sector in Jammu and Kashmir which has taken a severe hit like other parts of the country due to COVID-19.

Detailed discussions were held on various interventions needed for the much needed business revival in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Suggestions were taken from different stakeholders including Industrialists, Traders, Hoteliers, Entrepreneurs and others related to trade and commerce, so that a comprehensive draft on trade policy can be made.
Trade federations including Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chamber of Traders Federation, Confederation of Indian Industry, Traders Welfare Association, Hotels and Lodges Association, Tourism Federation of Jammu, Private School Association, Jammu Fruit Association, Offset Printing Press Association, Banquet Hall Association, Federation of All India Vyapar Mandal Jammu etc effectively projected their view point and came up with suggestions as well as demands.
Most of the associations demanded relaxation in electricity bills, financial assistance, release of long pending payments under different departments, exemption on Bank EMIs during pandemic period, and taxes to be waived off to provide immediate relief to the industries and other traders.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry demanded that government should support in paying 75% of salary/wages payable by Business establishments to employees, interest payable during the moratorium period should be exempted, pending incentives related to GST should be released, all mandatory taxes/duties should also be exempted.
Chamber of Traders Federation requested to reduce taxes on purchase of new vehicles and exemption in usage charges where as Confederation of Indian Industry demanded for budgetary support to industries, release of pending payments to MSME units and all the departments should be covered under single window system for different permissions/approval.

Hotels and Lodges Association Jammu requested for relaxation in SOP guidelines related to Covid-19 to attract more and more tourists to the J&K as most of the economy of the UT is dependent on the tourism sector.

The Advisor listened to suggestions and demands projected by the different Associations. He welcomed their suggestions and ensured them that all their genuine demands would be looked into and will be completed in a phased manner.
The Advisor emphasized that LG Administration is committed to explore more ways and means for the revival of the business sector in Jammu and Kashmir.