The direct-to-home (DTH) service providers, in their pre-budget recommendations, have asked the government to grant infrastructure status to the industry and rationalise tax structure.
Ahead of the Budget 2015, the DTH Association of India, in a letter to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, has said, “The Cable and DTH sector should be treated as infrastructure industry and all the benefits and incentives available for infrastructure industry should be extended to the sector, including the availability of finance at a concessional rate. The sector should be allowed tax concessions as per Section 80-IA of the Income Tax Act.”
Besides, the industry has raised the issue of dual applicability of service tax and entertainment tax on the sector.
“We would request that till the time GST comes in place, entertainment tax paid to the state government may also be made creditable against the service tax liability of the DTH/Cable sector,” R C Venkateish, President of the DTH Association of India said.
The industry has also sought lowering of duties on the digital set top boxes, Venkateish, who is also the Chief Executive Officer at Dish TV, added.
The association, which represents the DTH operators, pointed out that the ministry had recommended a reduction of license fee from 10 per cent to 6 per cent around four years ago.
Meanwhile, the regulatory authority TRAI has recommended that the license fee in the new DTH licensing regime should be charged as 8 per cent of AGR, where AGR is calculated by excluding, service tax, entertainment tax and sales tax/VAT actually paid to the government, from the gross revenue.
“An urgent decision needs to be taken on this matter and long pending demand of the industry, as all DTH operators are suffering severe losses, and these funds would promote the digitization programme of the government,” the letter said.
