Film producers meet Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met Tamil Film Producers Council’s Consulting Committee members here in Chennai on Wednesday to discuss various issues related to GST and service tax in the film industry.

The film producers, who have been meeting State government officials to urge them to ‘fully computerise’ the sale of movie tickets across Tamil Nadu in order to track it, apprised the Finance Minister of the issues and difficulties faced by them in the business, especially in the current economic climate.

The meeting comes at a time when traditional Tamil cinema is facing newer challenges from streaming platforms and global films.

Producer J. Satish Kumar said that the Finance Minister had agreed to recommend special exceptions to Goods and Services Taxes being paid by various stakeholders of the Tamil film industry to the GST council.

“We also told Ms. Sitharaman that we need a system in which the GST should automatically be credited when a customer buys a ticket instead of producers and distributors paying it to the government,” said Mr. Satish Kumar.

The committee sought extension for producers to pay GST and service tax to the government as they don’t have the clarity on the subject yet. “She asked us to come to New Delhi and present these requests formally to the Finance Ministry’s office,” he said.

Tamil Film Producers Council members were of the view that there is a circle of mistrust between theatre owners, producers and actors as it has become almost impossible to accurately gauge the box office collections.

The TFPC consulting committee has been involved in several disputes with well-known actors over compensation and theatres and distributors over revenue share. Recently, Tamil Nadu Information and Broadcasting Minister Kadambur Raju had said that the demand of TFPC members to make available the ticketing inventory online will be implemented.