News Broadcasters Association asks for GST relief on advertising for broadcast

New Delhi: The News Broadcasters Association has written to Union Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman, for the 18% GST on advertising for broadcast media to be either removed or reduced to 5% on a par with print media.

“Advertisements are an integral and essential part of the business and the main source of revenue for the news broadcasters which has come under severe pressure under this pandemic,” stated a letter by NBA president Rajat Sharma, adding that not only are advertising agencies deferring payments and asking for time over and above the credit period, the recovery of bills is going to be a huge challenge given that zero income is expected over the next 30-90 days. Moreover, news broadcasters are also facing instances of advertising inventory being cancelled and around 50% of it being for the top-rated news channels.

“Poor recovery and lack of future income would mean that news broadcasters would have to weather the storm for two or three quarters and hope for a partial recovery towards the end of the financial year,” the statement added.