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Thiruvananthapuram:
The value-added tax (VAT) system will be implemented
in Kerala from 1 April 2003.
Kerala
Finance Minister K Sankaranarayanan says he had contacted
his counterparts in other South Indian states and has
understood that all of them are going to implement the
new system.
He
says it is not possible for Kerala alone to keep off the
new system. “There is no going back on the implementation
from the said date though all procedures and processes
for implementing the system are not yet over.”
According
to him, the central government had promised to compensate
100 per cent of the loss incurred by the state by introducing
the new system in the first year, 75 per cent in the second
year and 50 per cent in the third year. Referring to the
complaints regarding the system, he says enough provisions
have been provided in the Bill to rectify the anomalies.
The
state cabinet had decided to increase “in a limited
way” the number of Beverages Corporation outlets
selling Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL). But Sankaranarayanan
says the number of additional outlets has not been finalised
yet.
There
are about 300 IMFL outlets run by the Beverages Corporation
in the state now. The United Democratic Front liaison
committee, which met last week, had left a decision on
the question of increasing the number of IMFL outlets
to the discretion of the cabinet.
Sankaranarayanan
says the liquor policy for 2003-04, approved by the cabinet,
will see the continuance of the licensing system for toddy
shops and sanctioning of beer and wine parlours in special
tourism zones, besides opening additional beer and wine
parlours by Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC).
He
says there will be no change in the number of toddy shops,
which will continue to be 4,356, and nearly Rs 20 crore
is expected as licence fee from these shops. The system
of individual licensing of toddy shops will continue in
all districts except Thrissur and Ernakulam, where an
old method of group licence is in practice.
Sankaranarayanan
says KTDC beer and wine parlours will be sanctioned after
examining the proposals. “In the case of beer parlours
in special tourism zones, individual restaurants will
also be considered in places where KTDC does not have
any outlets.”
He
says the licence fee of toddy shops will be increased
by 15 to 50 per cent. “It was also decided to sanction
bar licence to those hotels rated three star and above
in the state. The new licence fee will be announced in
the state budget on 14 March 2003.
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