At the behest of the Minister of Tourism Kumari Selja, in order to encourage the growth of new hotels coming up for the Commonwealth Games, the Ministry of Finance in the recently announced Union General Budget has extended the Five Year Tax Holiday available to 2, 3 and 4-star category hotels and convention centers in National Capital Territory Region of Delhi and the districts of Faridabad, Gurgaon, Gautam Budh Nagar (NOIDA) and Ghaziabad from 31st March 2010 to 31st July 2010 under Section 80-ID of Income Tax Act. Kumari Selja in a pre-budget exercise had requested the Union Finance Minister for extension of time limit for five year tax holiday to commonwealth games hotel projects in Delhi & NCR. Welcoming the decision, Kumari Selja said, the announcement of the Government during the Budget speech has set an economic environment which is conducive for tourism and hospitality growth in the country.
This financial incentive was earlier available during the period 1st April 2007 to 31st March 2010. This incentive has been extended by the Government to encourage the completion of the Commonwealth Games hotel projects which had slowed down due to the overall global economic recession. Though these hotels would have come up for the Games they would not have been able to benefit from the Five year Tax Holiday which required the hotels to be operational by 31st March 2010.
The hospitality industry has commended the efforts made by the Union Ministry of Tourism to encourage the growth of budget accommodation in the National Capital Region of Delhi.
