| In a bid to up revenue collections, the Delhi government
had been cracking the whip on cable operators to pay up their share
of tax to the government, which amounts to Rs. 20 per cable home.
In this connection, some raids too were conducted on cable ops.
If compared to financial year 2001-02, the entertainment tax collected
during 2003-04 (Rs. 69.8 million) has shown an increase from Rs.
50.3 million, but the figures don't match up with the increase in
cable connections too in the city of Delhi. In the year 2002-03,
entertainment tax collected amounted to Rs 57.5 million.
Excise officials whom indiantelevision.com spoke to admitted that
widespread under-declaration of cable connectivity by cable operators
has resulted in low tax collection.
Today, the excise department asked the MSOs ways and means to achieve
more collection as it is felt that individual cable ops can be influenced
by the MSOs too.
Though there are over 1,000 registered cable ops in Delhi with
a subscriber base of approximately 1 million, the figures show that
revenue collection hasn't increased much.
Those who attended today's meeting included representatives from
Hathway, INCablenet and Trinity. Another big MSO, Siti Cable, did
not turn up at today's meet.
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