Direct-to-home sector seeks infrastructure treatment

Says the sector should be allowed tax concessions under Section 80-IA of the Income Tax Act

Direct-to-home (DTH) television operators, represented by the DTH Operators Association, have written to the finance ministry ahead of the Budget requesting the DTH and cable television sector be treated as infrastructure industry.

"All the benefits and incentives given to the infrastructure industry should be extended to the cable and DTH sector, including the availability of finance at a concessional rate. The sector should be allowed tax concessions under Section 80-IA of the Income Tax Act," said R C Venkateish, CEO of Dish TV and president of DTH Operators Association.

According to him, the digitisation process and the deployment of set-top boxes require huge investments and, hence, operator should be allowed to offset their accumulated losses and carry forward unabsorbed depreciation under Section 72 A of the Income Tax Act. India has six private DTH players - Tata Sky, Dish TV, Airtel DTH, Reliance Digital TV, Sun Direct, and Videocon d2h.