MAM
Bharat Patel re-elected chairman of ISA
MUMBAI: Bharat V Patel, chairman, Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Limited, has been unanimously re-elected chairman of the Indian Society of Advertisers, for the third consecutive year.
Patel’s re-election took place on 23 September at the ISA’s executive council meeting, which was held after the AGM. He has been an active member of the Executive Council since 1991and held the position of the chairman of the managing committee since 1994, before being elected chairman in 2002.
Among the others elected were Kurush Grant, divisional chief executive – India Tobacco Division, ITC Limited, Bijou Kurien, COO – watches, Titan Industries and Virat Mehta, vice-president, Nestle India as vice-chairmen of East, South and North, respectively. Romit Chaterji vice-president – corporate affairs, Tata Services was elected treasurer and Dalip Sehgal, executive director, Hindustan Lever, was elected chairman of the media committee.
In his AGM address, Patel highlighted two major concerns that advertisers are facing in India, as well as worldwide. Firstly, the rapidly declining cost effectiveness of TV advertising due to a simultaneous proliferation of programmes /channels leading to declining viewership, combined with the increase in rates, was a major issue engaging the advertising community across the globe. He talked about the various experiments being undertaken worldwide by some big advertisers to use alternative audio-visual vehicles like the Internet and encouraged Indian Advertisers to look at such options critically.
The second big concern was to do with the questions being raised about whether the current yardsticks which measure media audiences were actually measuring what they should be measuring – that of ‘engaging’ the consumer and inducing ‘action’. He pointed out that the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), of which the ISA is a member, has recently launched an initiative by issuing a blue print for consumer-centric holistic measurement of media audiences. He expected to see some major changes in measurement logic and systems to get established in the foreseeable future.
Other members of the newly elected EC are: Hamid Ahmed (Hamdard), Amitabh (LIC), JC Chopra (consultant and member emeritus), Debanjan Datta (Crompton Greaves), Paulomi Dhawan (Raymond), Rajiv Dube (Tata Motors), Vinay Hegde (Colgate-Palmolive), Naveen Kshatriya (Castrol), Jagmohan Malhotra (Enterprise For New Directions), BO Mehta (Pidilite), Rajiv Pal (Birla VXL) R. Ramakrishnan (Bajaj Electricals), K.S Ramesh (CavinKare), Dalip Sehgal (Hindustan Lever) and Brahm Vasudeva (Hawkins).
The ISA is the only body which represents the interests of Advertisers in the country and its membership accounts for around 2/3rds of national advertising expenditures.
During the past year the ISA has been instrumental in convincing the government to allow the setting off of service taxes on advertising, sales promotions and market research expenditures against CENVAT, thereby eliminating the cascading and double taxation effect on such expenditures.
It was also a proactive participant in a joint representation by Advertisers, Advertising Agencies and media representatives to the information & broadcasting ministry in having the ASCI code being accepted as the determining code with respect to violation of the Cable TV Act, in preference to a separate code being set up by the government for this purpose. The ISA is one of the founder-promoters of the ASCI.
During the course of the last year, the media committee of the ISA, through discussions with All India Radio, was able to get them to defer a proposal to drastically increase their tariffs.
Brands
Jubilant FoodWorks faces Rs 47.5 crore GST demand, plans appeal
Tax authorities flag alleged misclassification of restaurant services
MUMBAI:Â Jubilant FoodWorks Limited has landed in a tax tussle after receiving a GST demand of Rs 47.5 crore from the office of the additional commissioner of CGST and central excise in Thane, Maharashtra.
The order, issued under the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, relates to an alleged incorrect classification of certain services under the category of restaurant services. According to the tax authorities, this classification resulted in a short payment of goods and services tax for the period between the financial years 2019-20 and 2021-22.
The demand includes Rs 47.5 crore in GST along with an equal amount as penalty, in addition to applicable interest. The order was received by the company on March 13, 2026.
In a regulatory filing to the BSE Limited and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited, the company said it disagrees with the order and believes its arguments were not adequately considered.
The company is preparing to challenge the decision and plans to file an appeal. It added that once the redressal process is complete, the demand is likely to be dropped.
Despite the sizeable figure attached to the notice, the company said it does not expect any material impact on its financials, operations or other activities.
The disclosure was signed by Suman Hegde, EVP and chief financial officer, who confirmed that the company received the order at 19:06 IST on March 13 and has already initiated steps to contest it.
The development places the quick service restaurant major in the middle of a tax debate that could hinge on how certain restaurant-linked services are classified under GST rules. For now, the company appears ready to take the matter from the tax office to the appeals desk.
