"In Mumbai, around 18,000-20,000 hotels and restaurants have expressed solidarity with the move to protest the new ST on fully or partly airconditioned eating houses," Indian Hotels and Restaurants Association (AHAR) general secretary Shashikant Shetty told IANS.

Monday's action is part of an all-India protest launched by hoteliers and restaurateurs who have strongly denounced the new tax, which was implemented from April 1.