Entertainment sector to witness boom in next few years

The media and entertainment industry is likely to grow at 12.5 percent
over the next five years to cross the Rs 1,00,000-crore mark,
according to a FICCI-KPMG report on the industry.
"Over the next five years, the industry is projected to grow at 12.5
percent to reach the size of Rs 1,05,200-crore (Rs 1,052-billion) by
2013," said the report released on Tuesday..

The Indian media and entertainment industry stood at Rs 58,400 crore
in 2008, up 12.4 percent over the previous year.

The report added that the economic slowdown has affected advertising
revenues of segments like television, print, radio and outdoor,
particularly in the last quarter of 2008.

The market environment has become increasingly challenging and could
affect the industry this current year too, it said.

The projected 12.5 percent growth for the media and entertainment
industry will be driven by factors like favorable demographics, long-
term fundamentals of the economy, expected rise in advertising to GDP
ratio and increasing media penetration, the report said.

Of the different segments of the industry, television forms the
biggest chunk with revenues worth Rs 24,100 crore in 2008, a growth of
14.2 percent over 2007. Revenues from television are projected to grow
to Rs 47,300 crore by the year 2013, the report said.

The film industry grew 13.4 percent in 2008 over the previous year and
posted revenues of Rs 10,900 crore. It is projected to reach the size
of Rs 16,800 crore by 2013.

At the same time on the sidelines of the Federation of Indian Chambers
of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Frames 2009, the , Minister of State
for Information and Broadcasting and External Affairs Anand Sharma
said The Central Government will take up with the Empowered Committee
on VAT (Value Added Tax) the media and entertainment industry's demand
for subsuming entertainment tax in the Goods and Services Tax (GST),
which is slated for introduction from April 2010.

Mr. Sharma said, "We will consider the entertainment industry's
demand, articulated by FICCI, for inclusion of entertainment tax in
GST itself, so that there is single tax on the industry.

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