Hotels, restaurants workers demand pay hike after service charge ban

Industry experts say that while restaurants will increase the food prices there is no certainty on it going to staff as it will be a part of the owner's revenue

“This is my second battle in two years,” says Ram Pandey, a waiter and father of three girls. The first was the pandemic, which hit the Indian restaurant business badly. The industry shrank 53 per cent in FY21, according to a report by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI). And now it is the Central Consumer Protection Authority’s (CCPA’s) decision to bar hotels and restaurants from levying service charge from July 4 that has dealt another blow to people like him, he says.

The CCPA later clarified that the guidelines are not advisory in nature and are fully enforceable