When everyone was complaining that movie watching had become an expensive affair, the Centre announced GST cut recently which means ticket prices will come down beginning 1 January. Recently, the GST Council, headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, slashed the tax on cinema tickets. Cinema tickets priced up to Rs 100 will attract a GST of 12 per cent, against the current 18 per cent. And tickets which are priced over Rs 100 will attract a rate of 18 per cent, against the 28 per cent now. This would help make movie-going affordable for people. This reduces the cost for the audience and cinema theatres will see an increase in footfalls. There are 1,127 screens in Tamilnadu. Of these, 407 are multiplexes.
The lower GST rates for movie tickets has come at a time when recently members of the film industry met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They had pitched for lower and uniform GST rates for the entertainment industry. In a tweet after the meeting, Modi had said, “Had an extensive and fruitful interaction with a delegation from the film and entertainment industry. The delegation spoke about the strides being made by the film and entertainment industry, and gave valuable inputs relating to GST for their sector.”
Now that GST has been cut, those in the film industry want the government at the Centre and State to act tough on piracy. Strict laws should be introduced to curb this menace, they demand. Piracy is affecting the industry globally and is spreading like wildfire. The estimated yearly revenue loss globally is $ 5-6 billion. According to some estimates, the Indian industry, too, is bleeding as much as $2.7 billion annually. So, strong steps are needed on this front to end the menace.