West Bengal offers rebate on tickets of regional movies after GST roll-out

In a huge relief for the regional film industry, the West Bengal government has decided to keep its share of entertainment tax on regional cinema tickets priced at Rs 100 and above unchanged after the GST rolls out from July one.

For films in regional languages like Bengali, Nepali and Santali with tickets valued at Rs 100 and below, the state will keep its two per cent entertainment tax unchanged, thus offering a rebate of seven per cent to viewers, state finance minister Amit Mitra said today.

Giving details of the government’s policy to reporters at the secretariat, Mitra explained that out of the GST-mandated 18 per cent tax on cinema tickets of up to Rs 100, the state would keep the nine per cent tax, but out of that a rebate of seven per cent would be offered to viewers.

Similarly, for movie tickets valued above Rs 100, the entertainment tax after the GST implementation would be 28 per cent. For such tickets the state would offer a rebate of 12 per cent on its share of 14 per cent of entertainment tax, the minister explained.

“The rebate given by the state government will be printed on the tickets,” Mitra said adding that the decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting held at the secretariat today.

Mitra said that the decision to give rebate would help single-screen theatres in the districts to stay afloat in business.