CALL ON MEETING HELD BY DR. MAHESH GUPTA, PRESIDENT, PHD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY WITH THE HON’BLE CHIEF MINISTER OF UTTARAKHAND SHRI. HARISH RAWAT

The President of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry Dr. Mahesh Gupta with the secretariat members of the Chamber made a call-on visit with the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Shri Harish Rawat on 26 July, 2016 at New Delhi.  Amongst industry issues which were discussed at length, the matter concerning Biodiversity Board’s New Cess was taken up by the President with Hon’ble Chief Minister. 

Recently, the enactment of Biodiversity New Cess has been taken up by the Uttarakhand Biodiversity Board.  The Board has started sending notices to various industrial units for registration and submitting information and in-lieu implementation of the Act for applying Cess flatly @ 5% on raw material & 0.5% on turnover.  According to PHD Chamber, clarifications are needed on this 0.5 to 5% Cess as there is ambiguity as to which industry should be covered under this Act for charging Cess.  The President of the PHD Chamber appealed to the Hon’ble Chief Minister to review the applicability as well as percentage to be levied on a rational platform, by assessing which industry should be charged how much since there are many industries which do not procure direct bio-resources as raw material and only add value through their manufacturing processes which is excluded under 2C of the Act.  If a flat Cess is applied to all industries, this will impact industry growth adversely and de-motivate  the growth of industry and its sentiment in State of Uttarakhand.  As such the members of the PHD Chamber of Commerce of Uttarakhand Chapter would also be adversely impacted and industry will suffer overall.

The Hon’ble Chief Minister has assured his personal intervention in this matter and shall take up the required action to necessitate applicability of Biodiversity Cess as per industry use, element of damage, etc., and making a slab on the applicability of Cess in accordance to industry usage.  This will enable the growth of the State, its industry as well as create a healthy environment for ease of doing business benefiting the industry.