GST impact: Movie tickets to get costlier from July 1, a killer for regional films

India is the world's largest film industry, producing more than a 1000 movies a year

A night out at the movies could become costlier from July when India’s biggest tax reform since independence is rolled out, adding another blow to an industry already struggling to attract audiences to the cinemas.

The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be especially hard on regional-language films, which pay little or no entertainment tax. Movie tickets are placed in the GST’s highest slab of 28 percent, with the government making a concession for tickets priced below 100 rupees ($1.5), taxing them at 18 percent.

“This will be a killer for regional films… At the least, they