NEW DELHI: Pilgrimages such as Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, the Haj, and the Pashupatinath tour will become cheaper with the government on Saturday exempting religious tours from service tax. According to a notification, service tax exemption has been provided to ‘services by a specified organisation in respect of a religious pilgrimage facilitated by the Government of India under bilateral arrangement”.
While the Ministry of External Affairs, in coordination with Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd, organizes the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, the Haj is facilitated by the Ministry of Minority Affairs in coordination with the Haj Committee of India (HCOI). The Haj is undertaken only through chartered flights, and the Yatra is also done mainly through chartered flights. Journeys through chartered flights attracted 18 per cent GST. Now, GST for all religious tours has been fixed at 5 per cent. The GST for air travel in economy class is 5 per cent, and GST for business class air travel is 12 per cent.
The HCOI, which has been demanding a rollback of the GST for Haj, welcomed the government’s decision. HCOI Chairman Maqsood Ahmed Khan said the reduced GST would significantly benefit Haj pilgrims, especially women.
Last year, the government introduced a new category for pilgrimage and allowed single women to undertake Haj without a male companion. Khan said, “We had been demanding zero GST for Haj flights. Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had also raised the issue with the Centre and asked the government to reduce the GST to 5 per cent for all religious tours. It is a good move to relax GST for all religious tours.”
Going on Haj became expensive last year with the removal of the Haj subsidy as well as the imposition of the GST. The Haj flight fares ranged from Rs 60,000 to Rs 110,000. Last year, a fare of Rs 60,000 involved a GST of Rs 10,800. Now that GST would be reduced to around Rs 3,000, Khan said.