ITV

Tag: Budget 2015

  • FM includes CNN-IBN suggestions in Budget 2015

    FM includes CNN-IBN suggestions in Budget 2015

    MUMBAI: CNN-IBN, continuing with its legacy of empowering the common man, delivered once again on the budget expectations of the people through its unique initiative – Axe the Tax. This award-winning initiative of the channel started in 2007 as special programming showcasing five tax laws, which the Indian taxpayer would like to see changed; and has since become a unique campaign to take the common person’s voice to the government.

     

    For eight years now, CNN-IBN has presented these suggestions to the Finance Minister to consider as laws to be “axed” or adjusted. This year too, CNN-IBN presented five suggestions that were gathered from viewer feedback on CNN-IBN’s website www.IBNLive.comand from tax experts across the country.

     

    3 out of 5 recommendations made by the channel were selected by the Finance Minister and implemented in the Union Budget 2015 presented by him. The suggestions that were implemented in this budget are:

     

    ·         Increase in the limit of deduction on account of Health Insurance premium from Rs.15,000 to Rs.25,000.

    ·         Doubled the Transport Allowance exemption from Rs.800 per month to Rs.1,600 per month.

    ·         Cap on savings to be raised for saving for old age – Additional deduction allowance of Rs. 50000 under 80CCD for the National Pension Scheme

     

    CNN-IBN yet again proves that it is not only India’s best English news channel but is also, India’s channel of Impact.

  • DTH players react to Budget 2015

    DTH players react to Budget 2015

    MUMBAI: Some time before the presentation of the budget, the Direct-To-Home (DTH) Operators’ Association of India had sent its wish list to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) asking for certain demands to be fulfilled for the sector. The Budget 2015 saw a strong no-no with an increase in service tax from the current 12.36 per cent to 14 per cent and the demands not being fulfilled. Additionally, the date for the roll out of Goods and Service Tax (GST) has been announced.

    Expressing his displeasure on the same, Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera tells Indiantelevision.com, “The DTH and cable sector were ignored in the budget. The hike in the service tax will further be passed on to the consumers through the packs. Nothing from the wish list was taken into account.”

     

    It may be recalled that the wish list had asked the service tax for DTH services to be put in the negative list of service tax. It had also demanded for infrastructure status for the DTH sector.
     
    When asked for his reaction to the budget, DTH Operators’ Association president and Dish TV CEO RC Venkateish opines that he is happy that the GST date has been announced, while it was already known that the increase in service tax would be increased in two stages. “While the announcement of the GST date i.e 1 April, 2016 will have benefits, for the short term one would pay that extra one per cent, which is not material. The GST implementation will give us a substantial reduction in overall taxes,” he says.

     

    Echoing his thoughts on the Budget 2015, Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal says that he was hoping that at least one of the two taxes that the industry pays to the Centre and the State would be absorbed, which did not happen. “We are the only industry that pays service tax to the Centre and entertainment tax to the state,” says Nagpal. 

     

    According to him, this long standing demand to negate one of the taxes was not granted and instead what one saw was the service tax being hiked. Differing with Khera’s point of view, Nagpal informs that the increase will not be passed on to the subscribers through an increase in price packs as the amount is minimal which is one per cent.

  • Sports broadcasters expect reforms from budget 2015

    Sports broadcasters expect reforms from budget 2015

    MUMBAI: Private sector is one of the largest contributor to Indian economy the first step towards economic reform would be making an investor friendly scenario. With a vast market like India if private sector is refraining from investing then there are certain issues at the bureaucratic level, which are hampering the economic growth. In such a scenario the biggest challenge is to garner trust, not by compromising with national security independence but by policies. Policies that rejuvenate investors to invest exp. Be it in Madison Square or Sydney Allphones Arena, the entire Indian diaspora was promised a better business friendly India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which laid foundation to skyscrapers of aspirations.

     

    Now emphasising on the current business workflow in India, a company has to abide by both central state laws, which turns out as an obstacle. Moreover government often intervenes in the financial strategic affairs of a private company. Sports broadcasting industry is one of the sufferer of such obligations. Broadcasters purchase content from  firms by paying the amount demed, but while producing the content they are forced to follow certain regulations, which indirectly decides how much should be charged for the content.

     

    Opposing such intervention Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi told Indiantelevision.com, “In India, private sector is a huge contributor to the economy with digitization process in its final stages sports media can play a key role in economic growth provided we are backed with business friendly policies. The matory sharing of sports feed is something that directly hits us, though it’s not an issue related to the budget, I would certainly like the government to look into such issues. Moreover, we purchase content from somewhere by paying certain amount regulations restricts us when it comes to selling it. So the next level of de-regularisation or de-tarrifisation is something that I expect from this budget. I have high expectations from Arun Jaitley as he is someone who has immense knowledge of finance economics understs the problems that we are facing. He has delivered so far I hope he does in this budget too.”

     

    That somehow sums up the private sports broadcasting industry’s aspirations from budget Jaitley.

     

    The perspective of government broadcasting sector came from Doordarshan (DD) deputy director general C K Jain. Hailing the concept of Make in India he insisted that the government should reduce dependence on Chinese products. “I expect the government to remove service taxes from advertisements as we also have the same functions responsibilities. Also I would request the government to treat us as a government entity exempt us from various taxes liabilities. From sports perspective, service tax on advertisements is certainly a botheration should be dealt with.”

     

    Sharing his personal expectation Jain added, “Make In India has the potential to play a key role in economic growth provided government pays special attention to it. The local manufacturers need to be backed financially with loans tax rebates. The poor of the country needs to be benefited from the budget, as the goal is to uplift the poor to middle class, which will reduce the dependence in subsidies. If subsidies are reduced government will have more money which they can spend other important sectors.”     

     

    The Finance Minster has been criticised as pro private sector in recent past after he decided not to intervene in a legal battle between DD Star regarding World Cup. The Sports Act of Prasar Bharati forces private channels to share feed of any event of international importance with pubcaster DD, which enables them to showcase it live. Now the act was brought to ensure that one who cannot afford private channels gets access to events of such magnitude. Which is a fair call considering every citizen in the country has a right to information should not miss the World Cup or Olympics as they cannot afford private channels. The problem is with sharing the feed with cable subscribers. BCCI, Nimbus Communications the two sports channels (ESPN Star) went to court with a plea that no cable television network could broadcast such sports events without a licence from the content owners. 

     

    In an affidavit, Star Sports had said that it was losing around Rs 290 crore every year by sharing its sports signals with Doordarshan was expecting to lose around Rs 120 crore by sharing the telecast of the World Cup this year. Under the Act, the rights holder gets 75 per cent of the revenue from the telecast on DD. The remaining 25 per cent is retained by DD.

     

    While Jaitley plans to increase GDP reduce fiscal deficit through his financial proposal policies the entire nation’s eyes ears are glued to his words even as you read this report today (28 February, 2015) with immense expectations aspirations. It remains to be seen if Jaitley company makes it or breaks it.

  • I&B budgetary allocations up by Rs 600 crore; Prasar Bharati’s grants-in-aid upped

    I&B budgetary allocations up by Rs 600 crore; Prasar Bharati’s grants-in-aid upped

    NEW DELHI: The total budget of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has been raised to Rs 3711.11 crore for 2015-16 against the revised budget of Rs 3176.80 crore (against the initial allocation of Rs 3316 crore) for the year 2014-15. This was announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to the Parliament on Saturday, while presenting the Union Budget 2015 – 16.

     

    Additionally, the grants-in-aid for Prasar Bharati have been also raised from the revised estimates of Rs 2361.54 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 2824.55 crore for 2015-16, apart from an investment of Rs 200 crore by the government in the pubcaster.

     

    The investment in the pubcaster was stopped over the past two years but has been revived this year in the budget for 2015-16.

     

    Although the grants-in-aid for Prasar Bharati had provided for Rs 90 crore for the Kisan TV channel in the budget presented by Jaitley in July last year after the new government took over, the revised estimates for 2014-15 show the amount as Rs 21.68 crore and this amount has been raised to Rs 45 crore in the budget for 2015-16.

     

    An explanatory memorandum says that the grants-in-aid is meant for meeting salary and salary related expenditure. In addition, there is a proposal for Kisan TV for making available information to farmers across the country.

     

    (Expenditure on salaries of Prasar Bharati has fallen on the shoulders of the government since all Prasar Bharati employees, who were in employment as on 5 October, 2007 have been given deemed deputation status.)

      

    The allocation under ‘Secretariat – Social services’ covering centenary of cinema celebrations and digitisation of cable television among other things has gone up to Rs 235.23 crore as against the revised estimates of Rs 92.81 crore. Other subjects under this head include the National Film Heritage Mission, anti-piracy measures, promotion of Indian cinema overseas, production of films and documentaries, and setting up a centre of excellence for animation, gaming and visual effects. The explanatory note adds that Secretariat – Social services also covers expenses on development of community radio, and development support to the north-east as well as Jammu and Kashmir and ‘other identified areas’.

     

    The allocation under the Film Sector has been reduced to Rs 130.69 crore for 2015-16. The budget for the film sector for 2014-15 was Rs 135.81 crore while the revised estimates had put this figure at Rs 128.40 crore. There is an additional outlay of Rs 7.68 crore towards certification of cinematographic films.

     

    For the sixth year in a row, the government has not announced any investment in the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).

     

    The allocation for Press Information Services, which includes grants to the Press Council of India has been marginally increased to Rs 71.45 crore from last year’s revised estimates of Rs 65.47 crore to meet the expenses for the Press Information Bureau, and the Press Council of India.

     

    For the first time after almost three decades, there is no allocation to the Press Trust of India for running the non-aligned countries news pool. (The pool had been established in the eighties but had gradually ceased to exist, although the allocation to PTI had continued.)

     

    The allocation to the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre has been reduced marginally to Rs 10.41 crore from the revised estimates of Rs 12.52 crore in 2014-15. The EMMC was set up for monitoring television and radio channels for violation of programme and advertising codes.

     

    The allocation for advertising and visual publicity has been more than halved to Rs 91.02 crore against the revised estimates of Rs 210.48 crore and budget allocation of Rs 230.37 crore for 2014-15, covering expenditure incurred by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity for publicity campaigns through advertising and other printed materials, as well as through radio, television, exhibitions and other outdoor campaigns.

     

    The allocation for research and training in mass communication has been raised marginally to Rs 26.26 crore as against the revised estimates of Rs 24.48 crore and the budgetary allocation of Rs 33.54 crore for 2014-15. This covers the Indian Institute of Mass Communication and the Research and Reference Division of the I&B Ministry, which collects and collates basic information on subjects of media interest for providing assistance to the Ministry and to its media units, Indian missions overseas, and newspapers and news agencies.

     

    There is an increase in the lump sum provision for projects/schemes for development of North-eastern areas including Sikkim to Rs 92 crore for 2015-16. The budgetary allocation had been Rs 100.5 crore in the 2014-15 but had come down in the revised estimates to Rs 75.2 crore.

     

    The Minister has also proposed a Centre for Film Production, Animation and Gaming in Arunachal Pradesh for the North Eastern states. Though there is no separate budgeting for it, Ministry sources told indiantelevision.com that this will come under the lump sum provision for the North East and from the Development of North Eastern Region Ministry.

  • Budget 2015: Sops for entertainment sector; TV sets, computer tablets made cheaper

    Budget 2015: Sops for entertainment sector; TV sets, computer tablets made cheaper

    NEW DELHI: Perhaps because he is also holding the Information and Broadcasting portfolio, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, on Saturday, announced certain concessions long sought for by the entertainment industry.

     

    While presenting the Budget 2015-2016, Jaitley announced that exemption to services provided by a performing artist in folk or classical art form of music, dance, or theatre will be limited only to such cases where amount charged is up to Rs 1,00,000 per performance (except brand ambassador). 

     

    He also announced exemption of service tax for service provided by way of exhibition of movie by the exhibitor/theatre owner to the distributor or association of persons consisting of exhibitor as one of its members.

     

    However in a review of the Negative list, which specifies items are exempt, he said service tax will be levied on the service provided by way of access to amusement facility such as rides, bowling alleys, amusement arcades, water parks, theme parks, etc.

     

    Service tax will also be levied on service by way of admission to entertainment event of concerts, non-recognized sporting events, pageants, music concerts and award functions, if the amount charged for admission is more than Rs 500.

     

    At the same time, service by way of admission to exhibition of the cinematographic film, circus, dance, or theatrical performances including drama, ballets or recognized sporting events shall continue to be exempt from tax.

     

    With an aim to get reduction in Basic Customs Duty in order to cut the cost of raw materials, Jaitley said high-density polyethylene (HDPE) for use in the manufacture of telecommunication grade optical fibre cables is being reduced from 7.5 per cent to Nil.

     

    The customs duty on black Light Unit Module for use in the manufacture of LCD/LED TV panels from 10 per cent to Nil and on organic LED (OLED) TV panels from 10 per cent to Nil.

     

    By way of reduction in duty on certain inputs to address the problem of duty inversion, he included parts and components of Digital Still Image Video Camera capable of recording video with minimum resolution of 800×600 pixels, at minimum 23 frames per second, for at least 30 minutes in a single sequence, using the maximum storage (including the expanded) capacity.

     

    Basic Customs Duty on Digital Still Image Video Camera capable of recording video with minimum resolution of 800×600 pixels, at minimum 23 frames per second, for at least 30 minutes in a single sequence, using the maximum storage (including the expanded) capacity is being reduced to Nil. Basic Customs Duty on parts and components of these cameras is also being reduced from five per cent to Nil.

     

    Excise duty structure on certain goods is being restructured on mobiles handsets, including cellular phones from one per cent without Central Value Added Tax (CENVAT) credit or six per cent with CENVAT credit to one per cent without CENVAT credit or 12.5 per cent with CENVAT credit. NCCD of one per cent on mobile handsets including cellular phones remains unchanged.

     

    Excise duty on tablet computers is being restructured from 12 per cent to two per cent without CENVAT credit or 12.5 per cent with CENVAT credit.

  • Major strides in National Fibre Optic Network programme, Digital India: Jaitley

    Major strides in National Fibre Optic Network programme, Digital India: Jaitley

    NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday, that the National Optical Fibre Network Programme (NOFNP) of 7.5 lakh kms networking 2.5 lakh villages is being further speeded up by allowing willing states to undertake its execution, on reimbursement of cost as determined by Department of Telecommunications.

     

    Andhra Pradesh is the first state to have opted for this manner of implementation. 

     

    Jaitley also said that the ‘Digital India’ programme had been announced to take technology from grassroot to the space and make India a knowledge and innovation based society with broadband connectivity being taken to all villages.

     

    He said in his budget for 2015-16 that India has a well-regarded and world-class IT industry with revenues of about $150 billion, over $100 billion of exports, employing nearly 40 lakh people directly. The country was ‘now seeing a growing interest in start-ups.’

     

    “Experimenting in cutting edge technologies, creating value out of ideas and initiatives and converting them into scalable enterprises and businesses is at the core of our strategy for engaging our youth and for inclusive and sustainable growth of the country. Concerns such as a more liberal system of raising global capital, incubation facilities in our Centres of Excellence, funding for seed capital and growth, and ease of doing business etc. need to be addressed to create lakhs of jobs and hundreds of billion dollars in value,” he said.

     

    With this objective, the government will establish a mechanism to be known as SETU (Self-Employment and Talent Utilisation). SETU will be a Techno-Financial, Incubation and Facilitation Programme to support all aspects of start-up businesses, and other self-employment activities, particularly in technology-driven areas. Jaitley set aside Rs 1,000 crore initially in NITI Aayog for this purpose.

  • Budget 2015: Futuristic and progressive, feels media industry

    Budget 2015: Futuristic and progressive, feels media industry

    MUMBAI: If Suresh Prabhu’s Rail Budget spelt out a pro – poor stanza, then Arun Jaitley has recited a pro-poor poetry while presenting the Union Budget.

     

    With burdens of expectations and aspirations, the Finance Minister started his presentation at 11 am on 28 February. As it is said ‘the morning shows the day,’ his initial sentences enlightened poor of the country. With pension and health insurance schemes, the government successfully managed to add smiles to the below middle class society. Jaitley’s pro-poor, pro-growth and pro-reform mantra followed throughout the budget. Sanitization, minority education, preservation of heritage sites, job creation and empowerment of youth were given supreme priority.

     

    Viacom18 Media group CEO and CII National Committee on Media & Entertainment chairman Sudhanshu Vats said, “Two words sum up the essence of Budget 2015: balance and clarity. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley walked the tightrope by staying away from big bang announcements that might have strained the fiscal position, while taking substantial steps on matters of tax, social security and public investment (especially in Infrastructure). On the reduction in corporate tax rates to 25 per cent, the 4-year implementation roadmap is a welcome addition. This is the clarity that the corporate sector needs so far as tax policy is concerned. While personal income tax slabs remain unchanged, higher exemptions are targeted towards savings and would add to retirement income in taxpayers’ wallets. ‘Wallets’ too will don a different connotation given the FM’s vision for a cashless society. The clarity on corporate tax road map is a welcome development for investments in the Indian M&E sector.”

     

    He further added, “The reduction in withholding tax rates (to 10 per cent) on royalty and FTS payments to non-residents has finally been granted. The increase in service tax is probably to bring the rate closer to the rates expected under the GST regime. In that context, the step is the proverbial bitter pill for our industry. I must compliment the FM for his announcement of social security schemes for the vulnerable sections of society as a vital cornerstone towards inclusive growth and development. All in all, this is a ‘Make in India’ budget that will truly ‘Make India’.”

     

    ZEEL CEO and MD Punit Goenka congratulating Jaitley said, “Indeed a futuristic and growth oriented Super Budget presented by Arun Jaitley! The Budget has certainly addressed the overall tax concerns and has portrayed a positive picture for the investors! It is certainly a Budget to remember for the Common Man, since it has remarkably addressed all the key aspects like housing, jobs & education! Congratulations Arun Jaitley for wonderfully addressing the nation’s concerns through the Budget 2015 & for setting some key goals for 2022!”

     

    Reduction of corporate tax, increase in service tax and abolition of wealth tax with a surcharge of two per cent for income over Rs 1 crore was the eyebrow raiser for the corporate industry. But the line that will be music to many industrialists was, “abhi permission lene me hi saalo beet jaate hain, project shuru bhi nahi hota” (it takes years to get the necessary permissions and the projects don’t take off), which signifies minister’s inclination towards establishing a business friendly environment. He also spoke about forming a pre existing regulatory mechanism to ensure fast and transparent business market.

     

    According to Reliance Broadcast Network CEO Tarun Katial, the budget is positive, realistic and progressive in nature. “The overall budget seems to be well thought of with a holistic approach and some key announcements for the service industry. The proposed reduction in corporate tax over the next four years is encouraging as it will result in higher investments, growth and more jobs creation. The move to increase the service tax however will put smaller advertisers under pressure and hamper advertising spends. The move on CSR is good and radio can be used effectively as a catalyst for social transformation in initiatives like Swachh Bharat, since radio can reach to the remotest of the corners where no other medium does because of literacy and cost issues, especially so with phase III and deeper reach. Overall a very good budget and I congratulate the Government for presenting us with a good futuristic budget.”

     

    The level of expectations and aspirations were visible in share market too. Both Sensex and Nifty soared before Jaitley’s presentation. The market was waiting for some big announcements and reduction of corporate tax was one of them. 

     

    The major outlines of the budget include:

     

    Policy Reforms

    · Create a universal social security system for all Indians

    · Commodities regulator to be marched with SEBI

    · New bankruptcy code in 2015/16

    · Promise to amend the RBI act this year and provide for a monetary policy committee

    · To set up public debt management agency

    · To raise visa-on-arrival facility to 150 countries from 43

     

    Taxation

    · To implement goods and services tax by April 2016

    · To increase service tax to 14 per cent

    · Reduction in corporate tax to 25 per cent from 30 over next four years

    · Wealth tax to be abolished, but a surcharge of two per cent for ‘Super Rich’ earning over Rs 1 crore

    · Plans to introduce direct tax regime that is internationally competitive on rates without exemptions

     

    Fiscal Deficit

    · Fiscal deficit seen at 3.9 per cent of GDP in 2015/16

    · Challenge of achieving fiscal target of 4.1 per cent of GDP

    · Commitment to meet medium term fiscal deficit target of three per cent of GDP

    · Current account deficit below 1.3 per cent of GDP

    · Need to keep fiscal discipline in mind despite need for higher investment

     

    Growth

    · GDP growth seen at between 8 – 8.5 per cent

    · Aiming double digit durable growth rate, achievable soon

     

    Inflation

    · Consumer inflation to remain close to five per cent by March, opening room for more monetary policy easing

    · Monetary policy framework agreement with the RBI clearly states objective of keeping inflation below sic per cent

     

    Investment

    · Propose to do away with different types of foreign investment and replace them with composite caps

    · To allow foreign investment in alternative investment funds

  • Sports broadcasters expect reforms from budget 2015

    Sports broadcasters expect reforms from budget 2015

    MUMBAI: Private sector is one of the largest contributor to Indian economy and the first step towards economic reform would be making an investor friendly scenario. With a vast market like India if private sector is refraining from investing then there are certain issues at the bureaucratic level, which are hampering the economic growth. In such a scenario the biggest challenge is to garner trust, not by compromising with national security and independence but by policies. Policies that rejuvenate investors to invest and expand. Be it in Madison Square or Sydney Allphones Arena, the entire Indian diaspora was promised a better business friendly India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which laid foundation to skyscrapers of aspirations.

     

    Now emphasising on the current business workflow in India, a company has to abide by both central and state laws, which turns out as an obstacle. Moreover government often intervenes in the financial and strategic affairs of a private company. Sports broadcasting industry is one of the sufferer of such obligations. Broadcasters purchase content from  firms by paying the amount demanded, but while producing the content they are forced to follow certain regulations, which indirectly decides how much should be charged for the content.

     

    Opposing such intervention Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi told Indiantelevision.com, “In India, private sector is a huge contributor to the economy and with digitization process in its final stages sports media can play a key role in economic growth provided we are backed with business friendly policies. The mandatory sharing of sports feed is something that directly hits us, though it’s not an issue related to the budget, I would certainly like the government to look into such issues. Moreover, we purchase content from somewhere by paying certain amount and regulations restricts us when it comes to selling it. So the next level of de-regularisation or de-tarrifisation is something that I expect from this budget. I have high expectations from Arun Jaitley as he is someone who has immense knowledge of finance and economics and understands the problems that we are facing. He has delivered so far and I hope he does in this budget too.”

     

    That somehow sums up the private sports broadcasting industry’s aspirations from budget and Jaitley.

     

    The perspective of government broadcasting sector came from Doordarshan (DD) deputy director general C K Jain. Hailing the concept of Make in India he insisted that the government should reduce dependence on Chinese products. “I expect the government to remove service taxes from advertisements as we also have the same functions and responsibilities. Also I would request the government to treat us as a government entity and exempt us from various taxes and liabilities. From sports perspective, service tax on advertisements is certainly a botheration and should be dealt with.”

     

    Sharing his personal expectation Jain added, “Make In India has the potential to play a key role in economic growth provided government pays special attention to it. The local manufacturers need to be backed financially with loans and tax rebates. The poor of the country needs to be benefited from the budget, as the goal is to uplift the poor to middle class, which will reduce the dependence in subsidies. If subsidies are reduced government will have more money which they can spend other important sectors.”     

     

    The Finance Minster has been criticised as pro private sector in recent past after he decided not to intervene in a legal battle between DD and Star regarding World Cup. The Sports Act of Prasar Bharati forces private channels to share feed of any event of international importance with pubcaster DD, which enables them to showcase it live. Now the act was brought to ensure that one who cannot afford private channels gets access to events of such magnitude. Which is a fair call considering every citizen in the country has a right to information and should not miss the World Cup or Olympics as they cannot afford private channels. The problem is with sharing the feed with cable subscribers. BCCI, Nimbus Communications and the two sports channels (ESPN and Star) went to court with a plea that no cable television network could broadcast such sports events without a licence from the content owners. 

     

    In an affidavit, Star Sports had said that it was losing around Rs 290 crore every year by sharing its sports signals with Doordarshan and was expecting to lose around Rs 120 crore by sharing the telecast of the World Cup this year. Under the Act, the rights holder gets 75 per cent of the revenue from the telecast on DD. The remaining 25 per cent is retained by DD.

     

    While Jaitley plans to increase GDP and reduce fiscal deficit through his financial proposal and policies the entire nation’s eyes and ears are glued to his words even as you read this report today (28 February, 2015) with immense expectations and aspirations. It remains to be seen if Jaitley and company makes it or breaks it.

  • Bloomberg TV India analyses Budget 2015

    Bloomberg TV India analyses Budget 2015

    MUMBAI: The Narendra Modi government will present its first full and possibly most crucial budget on 28 February, 2015. As it earnestly works towards the revival of the Indian economy, the most anticipated question on everyone’s mind is ‘Will the Government Make or Break the Economy?’ 

     

    To share the views on the same, Bloomberg TV India has come up with a special budget-programming segment titled Budget 2015 – Make or Break.

     

    The year 2015 brings with it sky-high expectations from the new government, which is poised to make breakthroughs that will re-ignite investments and take the economy back to a robust GDP growth.

     

    The government has announced numerous initiatives and reforms- key amongst them being the ‘Make in India’ program, which will boost manufacturing and job creation, digitization programs to increase the use of technology across the country, and the implementation of GST.

     

    For Union Budget 2015, Bloomberg TV India has laid out a comprehensive line-up of special shows which will showcase the best-in-class insights, analyses, reports, debates and interviews appealing to a large spectrum of audience – global and domestic influencers, business leaders, foreign institutional investors, retail investors and the common man. 

     

    The Pre-Budget programming started early January, by hosting leading Indian corporate leaders from across the sectors, policy experts and economists on their expectations from Budget 2015.

     

    The big highlight of the Pre-Budget programming includes featuring the point of view of Global Market Movers on what India’s financial markets need, and what they hope to see in Budget 2015. 

     

    Apart from covering the FM speech Live, the special coverage on Budget Day and Post-Budget will include reactions and insights on the impact of Budget 2015 from an enviable line-up of global and Indian market movers and thought leaders, along with detailed analysis of major announcements by the best-in-class editorial minds in the business news genre namely Siddharth Zarabi, Harsha Subramaniam and Mini Menon.

     

    Bloomberg TV India executive editor Siddharth Zarabi said that this year it has planned its budget programming with an outlook towards generating content that will appeal to both domestic and global investors.

     

    He further added that in recent times, he has seen a staggering flow of foreign institutional investments in India making FIIs the pillars of Indian market thus it’s very important to know the views of global FIIs. “Therefore we would be capturing the views of these FIIs across Hong Kong, London, Singapore and New York on the budget, which will be one of the key focuses of our budget programming,” he said.

     

    Overall, the Budget programming initiative of the channel will cater to a large and diverse audience – global and domestic influencers, business leaders, foreign institutional investors, retail investors and the common man.

     

    Bloomberg TV India EVP Alok Nair said, “Bloomberg TV India is the only Indian business channel viewed Live on the Bloomberg terminal across 150 countries delivering over 3.75 lacs global individuals who are way high on the influence quotient. We were the first to start the intense Budget programming from January, 2015 with Ideas for transforming India.”

     

    As part of the extensive budget programming, the channel had done an exclusive spectacular Live TV event with Jayant Sinha engaging and answering the FIIs across the world.

     

    “This was a first in a series on Invest in India theme. This year’s Budget day promises to deliver insightful content and analysis with the screen graphics tailor made to suit the viewer requirement. The channel is poised to deliver an impact perspective on budget day for audiences across FIIs, corporate India and investors. Our focus is on the new economy entrepreneurs in a significant manner. With our enviable editorial team strength led by Siddharth, Mini and Harsha, Bloomberg TV India is all set to engage with the best minds in India during budget,” Nair added.

  • Online start-ups pin hopes from Budget 2015

    Online start-ups pin hopes from Budget 2015

    MUMBAI: The Digital India idea conceptualised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has caused some excitement within established and start up companies in the technology and e-commerce space. Some of these start-ups are of the belief that Budget 2015 will be the start of a new era of higher growth.

     

    It may be also recalled that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had invited CEOs of Indian software and hardware companies for a meeting along with various e-commerce companies and prominent start-ups for pre-Budget consultations in January this year. Online start-ups like iTiffin.in, iSpyprice.com and Youshine.in are some of these start-ups that have raised their hopes ahead of the upcoming budget.

     

    iTiffin.in (Intelligent Tiffin) CEO and co-founder Tapan Kumar Das is of the opinion that ‘Nutrition services and Health food,’ should be brought under the gamut of health services, thus qualifying those services for service tax.

     

    According to Das, the cost of healthcare in the country should be reduced in order to regulate the increasing number of lifestyle disorder cases in India. He further wished that food technology is made free of import duty and income tax benefits are allocated to the Nutrition and Health Food sector. “I also wish that people are recruited from the skill development academy while Nutrition and Diet plan services should be brought under Mediclaim policy of General Insurance,” he said.

     

    On the other hand, price comparison website, iSpyPrice.com founder and director Suresh Sharma desires that GST (Goods and Services Tax) is implemented in the budget for this year as he feels it will solve various taxation issues. Besides this, he stated that if service tax on online advertisements is abolished, it would motivate internet-based publishing companies to create more valuable content and application for websites. Sharma said that the government should give proper clarifications on service tax levied on advertising income that is earned by Indian publishers in foreign currency. Also, he hoped that MAT (Minimum Alternate Tax) is abrogated from the e-commerce landscape.

     

    Meanwhile, VIA.com chief executive officer Swaminathan Vedaranyam said that as far as the travel industry is concerned, there is an urgent need for well-defined policies and clear commitments to ensure that all cultural heritage points are given more attention with improved infrastructural facilities. “There is a recent spurt in domestic travel as well as a higher influx of foreign tourists in India and with dedicated upkeep of the tourist hotspots, we can ensure higher growth for the travel industry,” he informed.

     

    On a concluding note, he wished for allocation towards revitalising all unused airports in tier II and III cities as, according to him these geographies hold immense potential today.