The IT and manufacturing giants based in this township will now have to cough up Rs 15,000 annually as trade licence renewal fees, which is almost 10 times of the previous amount.
An amendment to the existing rules under Section 118 of the West Bengal Municipal Act 1993 was brought about to empower the Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NITA) to impose the hike in Sector V.
“We had given a proposal to the department of municipal affairs to allow us to revise the upper limit of the existing license structure. This was because most the companies located here have turnovers running into crores. Revising the upper limit —- which was only Rs 1,500 till now — will help us earn additional revenue. We have representatives of the IT companies on our board and they agreed to our proposal,” said SA Ahmed, Chairman of NITA.
Also, small ventures like STD booths, roadside food kiosks, studios cannot escape the hike which was imposed on April 1 this year. With the minimum slab being raised to Rs 1,500, these small entrepreneurs will now have to pay thrice of what they were paying for procuring fresh trade licenses or for renewal of existing ones. There are around 250 commercial establishments, big and small, running in Sector V.
At present, all municipalities in West Bengal adhere to the fixed trade licence fee ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 as specified by the West Bengal Municipal Law.
The recent amendment provided a revision of the upper ceiling from Rs 1,500 to Rs 15,000.
Under the revised structure, all commercial establishments have been classified under six categories with each category corresponding to a specific licence fee slab.
All large scale manufacturing companies, real estate, call centers, forex dealers, bars, multiplexes and hotels will belong to the highest slab of Rs 15,000.
The second highest slab of Rs 10,000 consist banks, restaurants, small manufacturing units, drug manufacturers, institute of engineering and consultancy, printing and publication and cinema halls.
The Rs 7,500 slab will include chartered accountant firms, audit and consultancy firms, local TV operators, transport agencies, security services, petrol pumps and motor vehicles related works. Whereas, coffee shops, permanent fast food centers, travel agencies and IT firms operating in an area of less than 2500 square feet will have to pay Rs 5,000 annually.
The Rs 2,500 slab has been fixed for opticians, homoeopathy research laboratories and lowest category of Rs 1,500 will include STD booths, photocopy shops, studios and small food kiosks.