Against the backdrop of increased tax on liquor, license fees, and excessive excise duty, the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR) has called for a shutdown on July 14. The tax increase imposed by the government is unjust and has been strongly protested. In protest, more than 20,000 hotels and restaurants in the state have announced a shutdown on July 14.
The government has imposed excessive taxes on licensed hotel and restaurant industries in Maharashtra. The license fee has been increased by 15 percent for 2025-26. The excise duty on liquor has been directly increased by 60 percent. The value-added tax (VAT) on liquor has been increased from 5 percent to 10 percent. As a result, hotel and restaurant businesses in the state are currently facing a financial crisis. Due to the tax increase, this industry, which is worth about 1.5 lakh crore, is collapsing, and it is directly affecting production.
Due to such policies, the existence of hotels and restaurants is at risk. More than 20,000 licensed hotels and restaurants indirectly provide employment to around 2 million people. However, this increase in operations has raised the issue of their employment. As a protest against all this, the Association of Hotels and Restaurants (AHAR) has issued a warning of a strike.
The entire burden of this unjust tax increase has been placed on customers, resulting in services becoming more expensive. Consequently, demand is decreasing. The significant impact of the tax increase on hotels, restaurants, and alcohol will affect the tourism services in cities like Mumbai and Pune. If the government adopts such policies, the number of tourists in Maharashtra will decrease, leading to a drop in revenue. The excessive tax increase within just one year has created an atmosphere of anger among hotel business owners.
If the government does not withdraw the tax increase, we will have to shut down our businesses. Therefore, as a protest against this tax increase, we have called for a shutdown on July 14, in which more than 20,000 hotels and restaurants from various regions including Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, and Konkan will participate, said Sudhakar Shetty, the president of the food association.