Print    Email

Email To		[Close]
		You must make entries in all fields
Your Email
Your Name
Send to Email
		Send

Acoording to a report by Business Today, The Media & Entertainment (M&E) sector in India is currently Rs 80,250 crore and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 12 per cent to reach Rs 1,26,981 crore by 2015.

The report remarks that the sector is, driven by changing consumption patterns, an increasing number of middle-income households and the propensity of consumers to spend on leisure and entertainment.

The a myriad of taxes in various forms and multifarious statutory compliances affects the setor and hence the M&E sector is expecting for a simplification of the tax laws and resolutions of some of the long standing tax controversies.

In this line, issues related to high carriage fees payed by the TV channels to DTH and MSO players will follow suit .In the year 2010-11 carriage fees was paid was of Rs 1,300 crore and the same was expected to be around Rs 1600 crore for 2011-12.

The M&E sector is also subject to a host of other taxes and levies such as service tax, license fees, entertainment tax, State levies such as VAT, etc., apart from corporate income tax. To add to the above, there exists a disparity between taxes imposed on companies falling under different segments in the M&E sector. For instance, a broadcasting company is subject to taxes such as service tax, VAT, etc. Whereas print companies enjoy relief from service tax and are also eligible for certain other waivers.

While the M&E sector has tremendous growth potential, prudent fiscal legislation would help it perform at its potential. The need of the hour for this sector is appropriate tax reforms to enable the Indian M&E sector to further grow and go global.