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I&B Ministry Asks Finance Ministry To Exempt Digital News Subscriptions From GST

Submitted by admin on August 20th, 2024

Currently the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has asked the Ministry OF Finance to slash down the Goods & Service Tax (GST) on digital news subscriptions. In a letter to the revenue secretary Sanjay Malhorta, dated July 22, I&B secretary Sanjay Jaju urged them to either exclude the GST of the digital news subscription or to decrease it from 18 per cent to 5 per cent.

He pointed out that newspapers were made zero-rated under GST mainly because the importance of making ‘the right information, correct and factual information’ available to the people was understood. He also said that a similar disparity between printed books and e-books was met in 2018 for the Council reducing the GST rate for e-books from 18% to 5%.

“The paid subscription to online news in India is much lower than the overall unique users accessing news on the internet.

The observation which was made in this regard is that, a higher rate of GST on the digital news subscription may put further growth in online news in the form of advertising model which may adversely affect the quality of the news and credibility of the news available on internet through practices such as use of sensational headlines, fake news, etc.”

The letter stated as the printed newspaper has been kept out of the purview of GST keeping in view the importance of availability of correct and actual information to the citizens of the country this may be an appropriate time that online newspaper subscription and download of news may be treated in the same manner as printed newspaper or ebooks in as sum of GST, Mr Jaju added.

He stated that the 18% GST on the ₹ 120 crore online news subscriptions industry brings tax revenue of about ₹ 21.6 crore and that if the GST on digital newspaper subscriptions is brought down from 18% to nil, or to 5% at par with e-books, it may not lead to substantial revenue forgone by the Government exchequer.