Visakhapatnam: Experts in the hotel industry opine that GST levy on medium and small hotels might give a big push to food trucks and mobile food courts in the state.
Eating in AC restaurants will be a costly affair in the coming days. For instance, the price of mutton biryani would increase to Rs 250 from Rs 200 as per the GST, said T.J. Rao, owner of a popular restaurant in Vizag city.
GST rate on non-AC hotels has been fixed at 12 per cent and on AC hotels at 18 per cent, as against the present 5 per cent. The high rates will definitely make the middle class prefer to eat at food trucks.
“AC is not a luxury nowadays and the GST rates may hit our business hard,” said T. Satyanarayana, general secretary of the AP Hotels’ Association.
Vizag city has seen mushrooming of mobile food trucks at various places, including posh localities such as MVP Colony, Beach Road and few other areas. Not only students, but rich people are also eating the food on the roadside.
If the Union government did not revise the GST, mobile food courts in cities like Vizag and Vijayawada would be doubled, said P. Sharath Kumar, an hotelier.
