GCCI welcomes Guj Govt's decision on abolition of octroi

Ahmedabad, June 6 (UNI) Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) today welcomed the Gujarat government's decision to abolish octroi completely from the state positively by November.

Talking to reporters here this evening, GCCI President Pankaj Patel said the trade and industry in the state was thankful to Chief Minister Narendra Modi and ministers committee for their positive attitude to their long-pending demand.

He said GCCI and various other industry bodies had given many suggestions to the government an alternative to octroi to compensate the losses incurred by the civic bodies, which included cess on VAT and pass on the part of VAT revenue.

Mr Patel said today's announcement was historical for trade and industry in the state and it is a ''Deepavali Gift'' by the Chief Minister.

He said that on the basis of various suggestions put through by our bodies, government will come out with some alternative to compensate the losses, while abolishing the octroi in seven civic corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Junagadh.

Yesterday, coordination committee consisting of government representative, trade and industries and administrators of civic bodies held a meeting in this regard and arrived to abolition of octroi but to bring an alternative as the estimated octroi revenue losses to these municipal corporations is close to over Rs 1,800 crore.

UNI