The Hindu : National : Plea to exempt newsprint from VAT

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 18, 2006

National

National

Plea to exempt newsprint from VAT

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: A delegation of the Indian Newspaper Society met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Monday and requested him to rationalise customs duties on newsprint and exempt it from value-added tax to bring down the high level of newsprint prices.

INS president Jacob Mathew, who led the delegation, said the newspaper industry was suffering from a financial stress caused by the "unprecedented" increase in the newsprint prices, which could rise even further. As a result, the viability of bringing out newspapers could be seriously affected.

The Prime Minister assured the delegation of his support to solving the problems affecting the industry. He said he would be happy to meet print media industry representatives once a year so that the industry could share its concerns with him and any policy issue affecting the industry that needed attention or correction could be dealt with.

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