Indian Merchant Chamber (IMC) today strongly opposed the Maharashtra Government's decision to continue with octroi and local body tax (LBT), and allow municipalities to choose one of them for implementation in their respective areas.

The industry body said continuing with octroi/LBT will further breed corruption, lead to harassment of traders and also fuel inflation. "It appears that LBT or octroi is not going away. IMC is extremely disappointed with the stand the State Government has taken and left the option to municipalities to choose between LBT and octroi," IMC president Prabodh Thakker said.