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TOP
STORIES |
Wednesday, January 02, 2002
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Sushma
to make entertainment sector pre-budget pitch to FM
Nivedita
Mookerji and Vandana Gombar
Even though making pre-budget presentations is a norm for various
segments of the industry, the entertainment sector was out of
this groove till now. This year, for the first time, an entertainment
industry delegation will present its pre-budget memorandum to
Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. The delegation, which will
be led by Information & Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj,
is slated to present its list of demands to Mr Sinha on January
16.
Before presenting the pre-budget memorandum, Ms Swaraj would
meet representatives of the industry and business chambers on
January 7 to identify ‘legitimate demands’ which will be backed
by her ministry. The Rs 12,000 crore entertainment industry
encompasses films, television, cable, music, multiplex theatres
and event management companies.
Broadcasting companies, which dominate the entertainment sector,
will seek the removal of the 5 per cent service tax levied on
the industry last year. “The nascent industry should be exempted
from service tax for at least five years,” Indian Broadcasting
Foundation’s executive director Bhuvan Lall said. This exemption,
if granted, would cost the exchequer Rs 95 crore per annum.
The broadcasters will also press for waiver of customs duty
on uplinking and downlinking equipment and on content creation
hardware for five years. The current customs duty on such equipment
is in the range of 30-60 per cent.
The film industry, under the umbrella of the All India Film
Producers Council, is planning to demand removal of service
tax and waiver of customs duty on cinematographic equipment.
“It is extremely unfair to tax a creative process and even more
irrational to tax at different stages of production,” according
to the council.
Film makers will also ask for removal of the ban on import of
digital versatile discs (DVDs) and seek their import at nil
rate of duty.
Citing the Finance Minister’s budget speech last year, in which
he promised parity between the information technology and entertainment
sectors, the film producers will remind him to offer “similar
tax incentives and depreciation norms” as available to the IT
sector.
The entertainment industry feels that only with the help of
such sops can it realise the targeted turnover of over Rs 30,000
crore by 2005.
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