It was Zavaray S Poonawalla, or ZSP as he is fondly called, at the Mumbai and Pune race courses, galloping to try and rescue the beleaguered horse racing industry. The former chairman of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) and current chairman of GST Cell and counsel member at Turf Authorities of India, along with his legal team, made a  presentation to the Group Of Ministers (GoM) on Tuesday.

Claim concern

The presentation  at a virtual meeting, addressed the adverse impact of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on horse racing. It was a tight 15-minute window allocated to the horse racing industry. Within that, the Turf Authorities of India, the apex body of the sport, cited Supreme Court and High Court judgments establishing that GST on prize money does not fall in the ambit of Actionable Claim as far as horse racing is concerned.