Broadcasting industry hails Budget's focus on rural and infra

Hailing the Union Budget's focus on rural and infrastructure sectors, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation said it would provide impetus to the broadcasting sector through enhanced spends on advertising, but expressed disappointment over the industry not getting infra status.
"The massive thrust on infrastructure sector in general, and on the social and rural sector in particular, will go a long way in generating additional income and employment. This, we hope, will provide direct and indirect impetus on the growth of the broadcasting sector though enhanced spends on advertisement. The 5 per cent tax relief provided to the MSME companies is also a step in the right direction," it said in a statement.

It also welcomed the proposal to allow carry forward of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) up to a period of 15 years instead of the present 10 years.
However, it expressed disappointment at broadcasting sector not being granted infrastructure status.
"The Foundation was extremely hopeful that the government would consider the suggestion for granting infrastructure status to the broadcasting industry along with permission to carry forward of losses in case of amalgamation or merger as that would have made the media and entertainment sector a more viable engine of speedy growth," Indian Broadcasting Foundation Secretary General Girish Srivastava said.
According to KPMG, Director and Lead - Media and Entertainment Girish Menon, the media and entertainment industry would be positively impacted with the focus on increasing domestic consumption and stepped up allocation for Bharat Net to Rs 10,000 crore.

"The media and entertainment sector being largely driven by derived demand for ad-spend will be positively impacted by emphasis on increasing domestic consumption and demand. Additionally, increased allocation to BharatNet and high speed broadband connectivity will expedite digitisation and result in increased online data and video consumption," he said.