Budget 2012-13: No big bang announcement for media & entertainment

With a myriad of taxes in various forms and multifarious statutory compliances, the Media and Entertainment (M&E) sector was keenly awaiting Union Budget 2012 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee but came away with a lacklustre Budget.

The only important announcement for the M&E sector was that service tax would now not be applicable on copyrights relating to the recording of cinematograph films. This will provide a major relief to the M&E Industry.
The industry hoped for simplification of the onerous tax laws and resolution of some of the long standing tax controversies impacting this sector.
The government