FM Nirmala Sitharaman ignores entertainment industry during Budget 2021

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2021-22 in Parliament today. Some significant changes were announced by the finance minister in her speech which went for nearly 1 hour, 49 minutes. However, there were no announcements for the film industry which suffered the most due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The entertainment industry which came forward to support the migrant workers found no mention in the new budget. While there are some who are not surprised about the snub one of the industries that pay the highest taxes, there are some who are still hopeful that post budget the government may consider giving some relief to the already suffering film industry. 

Now, in a interview with, Pinvilla, film Akshaye Rathi said, "Unfortunately there is no mention of the entertainment industry in the budget. But having said that, there is at least no additional burden. And also after the budget, the government does what it takes for us, and not only the center but the state government does whatever it takes to revive the fortunes of the entertainment industry. There is no doubt that it is the most affected sector in the aftermath of the pandemic. It requires significant hand-holding from the authorities going forward. "However, the trade expert hoped that some incentives would be announced for the industry post the budget session. He further added, "We hope that some bit of concrete measures and incentives are given to the industry. We are looking at electricity charges going from commercial to industrial rates retrospective waivers on minimum demand charges for the period of closure  waiver on property tax for the period of closure could be done." Producer TP Aggarwal also shared his exclusive take on the snubbing. He said that he wasn't expecting much from the government. He added, "They have so much away that they don't have anything to give us. I had already mentioned that I don't expect anything from the government even though we hold an industry status. We don't get any loan we have to mortgage our property to acquire a loan-- we cannot mortgage our films. But the industry was looking at some reduction in GST and entertainment tax." For the unversed, the likes of Allu Arjun, Rajnikanth, Pawan Kalyan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kapil Sharma, Varun Dhawan, Chiranjeevi , Sonu Sood, Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar donated big amounts for coronavirus pandemic.