Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is still keeping the Telugu film industry biggies in waiting regarding the appointment to resolve the stalemate over the Ticket Prices issue. The industry is the waiting mode for several months and is fuming at this treatment.
Meanwhile, there are reports in a section of YSR Congress media that Jagan is not happy with the gross under-reporting of movie collections which is resulting in no tax revenue for the Government. The Chief Minister was informed that even a 1000 Crore film like Baahubali did not give more than 20 Crore Tax for the Government.
The CM was briefed that the distributors and exhibitors, especially in “B” and “C” centers under-report collections to avoid tax to the Government, and hence the Chief Minister is of the opinion that there should be no sympathy on the industry. We do not know if this is true, but if it is, the Chief Minister is wrong.
The Telugu film industry is not just about Tax revenue. It is a sector which employs 1000s of people supporting their families. Even for small films, on any day, we will have 100 people on the set. There are instances of 800-1000 people working for big movies. If we extrapolate those numbers to the families depending on cinema, it is going to be big.
And then, there are many people working in the post-production, theaters, theater parking lots, canteens, and many other places. The issue of Tax evasion is definitely a concern. Tax evasion is always the case in any sector if there is a chance. There should a mechanism in place by the government to ensure compliance. That should be done instead of ensuring the collapse of the entire sector.
