Single-screen theatre owners await govt sops
The Uttar Pradesh government is ready with a new plan to revive 709 single-screen threatres that have shut down over the years leading to heavy revenue losses.
The proposal of entertainment tax minister Madan Chauhan includes a provision of 30 per cent rebate in entertainment tax for the first three years to such cinema halls which re-open by March 2017.
However, the proposal has failed to excite cinema hall owners, majority of whom have been expecting a five-year tax holiday which the government provides to multiplexes.
General secretary of UP Cinema Exhibitors’ Association Ashish Agarwal, who met Chauhan with other cinema hall owners who had closed down operations a few months back, said that the impression they got in their earlier meeting was they would get the same rebate that was being extended to multiplexes.
“In fact, this is what we still believe is going to be the case,” said Agarwal who is revamping his single-screen Umrao theatre into a three-screen multiplex.
UP government charges 40 per cent entertainment tax on each ticket sold from single-screen theatre owners. Of the barely 400-odd single-screen theatres that are still surviving, many are on the verge of closure.
“The problem is that a previous government order prohibits us from shutting theatres even if we want to. We have to maintain the theatre at all cost even if that means revamping the entire set up. While multiplexes have largely ruined single-screen theatres, the government policies have equally been responsible for the present situation,” a cinema hall owner in Lucknow said on condition of anonymity.
Out of 28 single-screen cinema halls in Lucknow, barely 11 have survived.
For the first five years of operation, multiplexes get 100 per cent tax waiver for two years, 75 per cent for the next two and 50 per cent for the fifth year.
The single-screen cinema hall owners, who are willing to reopen theatres by converting to more profitable multiplexes – a la Lucknow’s Anand cinema – feel that the government should treat everyone equally.
“I don’t know how many will buy the present government proposal which has been in the offing for long. We were expecting some proposals for owners who are still running singlescreen theatres and wish to revamp. We, of course, expect a better deal from the government,” said Anurag Jain, owner of Lucknow’s Pratibha Theatre.
Even if the government’s policy of 30 per cent tax waiver for three years is aimed at helping single-screen theatres to resume operations without revamping into multiplexes, theatre owners feel that the move would still be inadequate.
“To re-open and keep pace with changing times, one will have to make several changes anyway. All this requires money. Some of us will definitely consider a re-launch but the policy certainly is not as exciting as one thought it would be,” the singlescreen theatre owners said.
Many cinema hall owners are planning to meet the minister again. “His intention to increase the penetration of cinema across the state and revive single-screen theatres is more than welcome. It would be great if he looks into some of the changes suggested,” said Rashid Hasan, a member of Western India Film Producers’ Association (WIFPA).