Entertainment Tax should also be merged with GST:MD of GTPL Hathway

Ahmedabad: Managing Director of Gujarat’s largest cable TV distribution company cum Multiple System Operator (MSO), GTPL Hathway limited, Anirudhsinh Jadeja today said that the MSO’s were happy about the decision of the government to reduce the proposed GST on several items including copper cable and set-top boxes from 28 to 18% but were in talks about merger of the entertainment tax with the GST.

Addressing a press conference here on the occasion of announcement of the IPO of the company at a price band of Rs 167 to 170 (opening June 21 and closes on June 23 biddable in 88 shares or multiples of it), Jadeja, who turned millionaire from a common cable operator in Ahmedabad city, said that the one tax system of the GST was good and the entertainment tax which has been left out of its purview for local bodies to collect, should also be merged with it.

He said that the MSO’s were in talks with the government on this issue too.

To a query he said that despite the bleak scenario in the cable TV industry, all over the world, his company has managed to make profit throughout year after year. A major reason for that was it ventured only in the markets where there were chances of becoming either the leader or number two. The extensive first hand experience in the cable tv distribution also paid off.

He said that the future of the cable industry was Fiber to the home (FTTH), also called “fiber to the premises” (FTTP) technology.

‘Those who continue to invest in it now would reap rich dividends after two years,’ he said claiming that telecom players and others would also have to surrender to FTTH.

It is the installation and use of optical fiber from a central point directly to individual buildings such as residences, apartment buildings and businesses to provide unprecedented high-speed Internet access. FTTH dramatically increases the connection speeds available to computer users compared with technologies now used in most places.

Notably, GTPL Hathway reaches an estimated 7.7 million households in over 169 cities across 11 states in India with presence in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Assam. GTPL Hathway is the largest MSO “cable company in Gujarat with a 67% share of the Cable TV market and is the second largest player in the cable market of Kolkata and Howrah with a 24% market share. GTPL Hathway has a significant presence in all other markets that it operates in.

Jadeja said that of the around 240 crore collected from the proposed IPO, 230 crore would go for debt repayment.

DeshGujarat