Lobby group urges GST Council to cut in-cinema F&B tax

livemint.com:

₹554.2 crore for F&B in the first half of FY23, up 3% compared to the same period of FY20. It was at 32% of overall income.

INOX clocked revenue of ₹274 crore from F&B sales in the period, accounting for 28% of total earnings. Media and entertainment industry experts point out that Bollywood continues to lag behind pre-covid levels despite cinemas operating at full capacity for more than a year now after the lifting of pandemic-induced curbs.

Film business in the Hindi-speaking market is nearly 40% less than the pre-covid levels and the first half of 2023, which clocked in about ₹1,900 crore in the Hindi belt, has seen only one notable Bollywood hit in Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan. Moreover, Hindi film releases have remained mostly inconsistent during the period with several weeks seeing no new movies while the mid-budget genre has completely moved to OTT.