Vizag needs USP to promote its brand value, says VCCI

Vizagapatam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), a premier organisation for traders and businessmen of the 'city of destiny,' has been playing a pro-active role for improving quality of living in the city. Not only championing the cause of its members, VCCI has been vouching the cause of the city, its residents and on the whole, to improve its branding. Developing USP of its own to showcase the potential of Visakhapatnam, the largest city in Andhra Pradesh with robust industrial and infrastructural ecosystem, for investment in multiple areas including IT, tourism, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, shipbuilding and hospitality sector, is topmost in our list of priorities, says Ravi Godey, honorary secretary of VCCI, in an exclusive interview with Bizz Buzz. Godey, involved in hospitality industry having served in various positions in the builders and LPG dealers' associations in the city, he sees a bright future for the city known for its glorious past, rich heritage and picturesque locates with a 30-km beach road from Visakhapatnam to 17th century Duth township of Bheemunipatnam. He is also against the growing culture of concrete jungle and calls for sustainable development without compromising on safeguarding the environment

What do you think are the benefits Vizag will get if it is made the Executive Capital?

Growth in the real estate sector and hotel industry is expected. More than the benefits, Vizagites are worried that with the inflow of VIPs Vizag's peace may be at stake.

What suggestions do you want to make to maintain the happiness index?

India ranks 139 in the world happiness index. GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, security, roads and public transport and level of corruption are the factors that will decide the index. To improve all these factors we need a long term plan. The State Government should try to improve these factors to improve citizens' lives.

Pollution has remained a major concern. What's your opinion on this?

Vizag's annual particulate matter average size is 2.5, which is about 10 times more than the prescribed limits of WHO. Port and Industrial pollution, vehicle emissions, municipal solid waste, road dust and construction activity are the major causes for pollution in Vizag.

Plantation, afforestation of forest areas, covered garbage disposal, speed up the special freight corridor, water recycling by industries, increase of sewage treatment plants, solid waste recycling, efficient public transport, energy conservation, mandatory covering of under construction buildings, introducing e public transport and encouraging e vehicles will reduce the pollution.

How do you react to increasing traffic causing snarls at busy junctions regularly?

The use of public transportation is one of the most obvious solutions to reduce the impact of traffic congestion. Government should expedite the metro rail proposal. We need more flyovers at important junctions to prevent traffic congestion. With the increase in the number of vehicles with every passing day, this calls for an increase in the size of roads to accommodate more vehicles. In Vizag many building owners handed over land for road widening to the GVMC. The GVMC should widen these roads.

To advise the commuters about traffic congestion, an advanced traffic advisory system can be used to provide real-time monitoring of the traffic on the roads. Adaptive signal technology can be used to adjust the amount of time for a green light in a particular signal based on real time traffic updates.

How to avoid parking problems?

It is the responsibility of GVMC to plan public parking. We need parking places at every 500 meters distance in commercial areas. Government should plan the PPP model to provide and maintain parking facilities in the city.

GVMC should provide a number of cart vendor zones in the city. All cart vendors and shops on the road should be cleared and that place should be used for parking.

What are your suggestions to attract big ticket projects to increase the brand value of the city?

Corporations select locations based first on overall fit, labour availability and quick permissions and then they may consider incentives to finalize their choice. The AP Government should focus on non-financial incentives which include workforce training, infrastructure development, fast-tracked processes, and access to development sites.

The State Government should appoint a business-development team that has knowledge of how businesses make decisions and know how to appeal to them. It also should have a customer relationship management system to track leads and projects and integrate financial and nonfinancial incentives to attract businesses with targeted, holistic packages.

There is a lot of competition for limited investment opportunities. The AP Government should revisit their business-attraction strategies and make sure that they have all the elements in place to get the most out of investments.

What is the impact of the pandemic on the trade and industry?

Prior to the pandemic the economy of Andhra Pradesh was marked by a slowdown of economic growth due to various reasons. Covid-19 came as a big shock to the ailing economy and all the businesses were shattered from March 2020. In the industrial field, the micro and small enterprises were the worst affected. For retailers shops were closed for months, even after opening, till last quarter of 2021 the customer inflow was minimal. Government support was meagre. This resulted in loss of employment, closure of business, vacation of commercial properties, etc. The second wave again affected the recovering business and till now there is a 20 to 40 per cent shortfall in business turnovers. Instead of helping the business community the State Government increased Property tax, market values and petroleum products which worsened the life of trade and industry.

What incentives do you expect?

The announced incentives by the Central Government hardly offer any financial support. The business community expects the following: Reduction of interest on CC limits, waiver of interest on delayed payment of various taxes, PF, ESI, GST and Income Tax. Delayed payment of interest u/s 234b/c should be allowed as expense and not added back to income. No penalties should be imposed on any tax components during these periods. Delayed payment of interest dues to banks should not be used to degrade internal bank ratings.

CSR compliance should be given flexibility of spending by the companies over a period of time instead of compulsory transfer to separate bank accounts

What difficulties you are facing with regard to GST?

For simplifying GST, the authorities should introduce a mechanism wherein once an invoice is raised, the recipient can pay the GST directly to the government. In cases where the suppliers do not file timely returns the traders are not in a position to claim input credit.

Some traders got the option to file quarterly returns. Due to their non filing of return every month the input credit cannot be availed as GSTR1 not filed. Sometimes there is a mismatch of invoice numbers and corrections to those will take more time on the server. Due to that we will not be able to take the input credit. With regard to HSN/SAC codes, I must say that it might not meet the exact business terminology and there is always a confusion. Interest on delayed payment of GST is disallowed in income tax. It should be allowed.