The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) council passed a resolution on Tuesday, July 30, to increase the trade licence fee for small businesses such as fish and meat vendors, among others. While the proposed increase largely varies between 50-150%, alcohol vendors and manufacturers of beer, arrack, and beedi have been exempted from the hike. If approved by the state government, owners of small businesses will have to pay more than sellers and manufacturers of wine, beer, and alcoholic beverages.
According to the proposed regulations, cycle stand owners who may have less than 1,000 square feet of land will have to pay Rs 3,000 as against Rs 500 until last year. Similarly, vendors who store and sell milk are being charged Rs 2,000 for owning a store under 500 square feet as against Rs 500, while fish, meat and vegetable vendors will have to pay Rs 2,000 for shops under 250 sq ft. Meanwhile, whiskey and brandy shops, beer, arrack and beedi manufacturers, no matter how big or small their units are, have been exempted from the hike. While whiskey and brandy shops will only be required to shell out Rs 1,250, beer, arrack and beedi manufacturers will pay Rs 2,000.
If the new hike is approved by the state, businesses will have to renew their licence once every three years as against the previous mandate of renewing them annually.
GCC commissioner J Kumaragurubaran said that the Corporation needs to improve its revenue in order to carry out works across the city and that the aim is to reduce financial dependency on the state.
Councillors of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India (CPI) condemned the hike, pointing that it negatively impacts small businesses. “We had initially, at the council meeting, pointed out the issue of small businesses having to bear the brunt. However, it is only now that we see how vendors in essential services are having to pay more while vendors and manufacturers of harmful products are being exempted. Like the Commissioner said, if improving the Corporation’s revenue is the motive, then they should have charged these harmful products’ manufacturers and sellers more. A cycle stand owner with 100 sq feet land will be paying twice as much as a whiskey and brandy seller,” Jayaram, CPI(M) councillor of Ward 4, told TNM.
TNM reached out to J Kumaraguruban, but didn’t receive a response.
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