Four South film industries unite on GST exemption

According to the new tax regime set to roll out at midnight on Friday, cinemas that price their tickets below Rs 100 would attract 18% tax whereas multiplexes whose ticket prices are more than Rs 100 would suffer a whopping 28% tax. 

“We wanted the films in regional languages to be exempted from GST completely while non-regional movies could be taxed at a lower rate. However, foreign language films could be taxed at a higher GST rate than the non-regional films,” a source said. 

Producers’ Council members also said that GST would affect the industry which employed lakhs of skilled labourers. “We made a representation to the Centre earlier this week. Now we are awaiting an appointment with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to explain how GST would affect south Indian industry,” said Vishal, President of Tamil Film Producers’ Council. 

When asked if the industry would incur huge losses with the ongoing shoots and schedules, he said, “That depends on what the local body tax is. However, I hope Jaitley considers our plea.”