Hindi
Film industry wants entertainment tax to be subsumed in proposed GST
NEW DELHI: The Film Federation of India has appealed to the Government that entertainment tax imposed by states and local bodies should be subsumed in the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST).
On its budget proposals to Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the FFI has said that the service tax on performing artistes should also be done away with.
In the memorandum submitted to the Ministry, the Federation says the condition on filmmakers to fill a form under Section 52A of the Income Tax Act for all payments above Rs 50,000 should be confined to only cash payments.
The Federation says the sale, distribution or exhibition of cinematographic films, not regarded as royalty under 9(1)(vi) of the Income Tax Act 1961, is nullified as it is not available under the Direct Tax Code 2010. As it is not regarded as royalty, it does not attract the 10 per cent with-holding tax under Section 194J of the Act. An amendment should, therefore, be made to exclude this from the Code.
The exemption to digital conversion – and supply to cinemas – may be put in the Mega Exemption List.
The exemption in customs duty provided for certain goods under the ATA Carnet (a uniform law applicable in 71 countries including India) does not include film equipment. As a result, it discourages foreign filmmakers from coming into India to shoot here. This should be amended to include film equipment so that more filmmakers come into India to shoot. This would also encourage the tourism and related industries.
Many Indian studios are hired by foreign filmmakers for post-production work. But under the Place of Provision of Service Rules 2012, only material brought in for repairs, reconditioning or re-engineering are covered. The Federation says that post-production is also in many ways repairing and reconditioning, the Rules should be amended to cover post-production work undertaken by Indian studios for foreign filmmakers.
Cinema theatres and digital distribution should not be subjected to service tax for Business Support Services, the Federation has said.
Similarly, the service tax on renting of immoveable commercial properties should not include cinema houses or multiplexes.
The services rendered by a digital cinema distributor were earlier exempted from service tax by the CBEC in March 2007. However, the introduction of the negative list-based service tax did not cover this. The industry, therefore, wants that the exemption of service tax in this regard should continue.
Meanwhile, Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India Pvt. Ltd has in its pre-budget demands sought a unified tax structure rationalising multiple levies can ease compliance and reduce the existing tax burden from the industry. The media & entertainment industry is presently subject to a host of taxes like service tax, VAT, entertainment tax etc.
It has also sought more clarity on the potential levy of service tax as well as VAT on activation charges and recharge coupon vouchers is expected.
Moreover, to enhance digitisation of electronic media, the industry expects abolishing/reducing the import duty on set top boxes. This will also result in reduction of capital expenditure for cable / DTH companies.
At present, the income tax act considers the subscription revenues earned by the foreign telecasting company as royalty or business income. The income from grant of distribution rights is in the nature of business income and not copyright. Hence, such payments should not be considered as royalty.
In a music industry that often rewards speed, spectacle, and instant recall, Navjot Ahuja’s journey feels refreshingly different. His story is not built on noise. It is built on patience, discipline, emotional honesty, and a quiet commitment to becoming better with every passing year. After 14 years of struggle, learning, performing, and writing, Navjot stands today as an artist whose success has not changed his centre. If anything, it has only made his purpose clearer.
For Navjot, music has never been about chasing fame alone. It has always been about expression. It is about writing more truthfully, singing more skillfully, understanding himself more deeply, and becoming a kinder human being in the process. That rare clarity is what gives his journey its beauty.
Where It All Began: A Writer Before a Singer
Indian singer and songwriter Navjot Ahuja’s musical journey began in the most familiar of places: school assemblies. But even then, what was growing inside him was not only the desire to sing. It was the need to write.
Long before he saw himself as a performer, he had already discovered the emotional release that writing offered him. For Navjot, words became the first true channel for feeling. Songwriting came before singing because writing was the only way he could let emotions flow through him fully. That inner pull shaped his artistic identity early on.
Like many young musicians, he sharpened his craft by creating renditions of popular songs.
Those experiments became his training ground. But the turning point came in 2012, when he wrote his first original song. That moment did not just mark the beginning of songwriting. It marked the beginning of self-definition.
A Calling He Did Not Chase, But Accepted
What makes the latest Indian singer-songwriter Navjot’s story especially compelling is the way he describes his relationship with music. He does not frame it as a career he aggressively pursued. In his own understanding, music was not something he chose. It was something that chose him.
There was a time when he imagined a very different future for himself. He wanted to become a successful engineer, like many young people shaped by ambition and conventional expectations. But life had a different script waiting for him. During his college years, around 2021, music entered his life professionally and began taking a firmer shape.
That shift was not driven by image-building or industry ambition. It came from acceptance. Navjot embraced the fact that music had claimed him in a way no other path could. That sense of surrender continues to define the artist he is today.
An Artist Guided by Instinct, Not Influence
Unlike many singers who speak openly about idols, icons, and musical role models, Navjot’s creative world is built differently. He does not believe his music comes from imitation or inherited influence. He listens inward.
He has never considered himself shaped by ideals in the traditional sense. In fact, he admits that he does not particularly enjoy listening to songs, especially his own. His decisions as a songwriter and singer come from instinct. He writes what feels right. He trusts what his inner voice tells him. He positions his music according to what he honestly believes in, not what trends demand.
That creative independence gives his work a distinct emotional sincerity. His songs do not feel calculated. They feel alive.
The Long Years of Invisible Struggle
Every artist carries a chapter of struggle, and Navjot’s was long, demanding, and deeply formative. One of the biggest challenges he faced was building continuity as the best new indian singer songwriter in an era where musical collaboration is increasingly fluid.
For emerging singers, especially those trying to build with a band, consistency can be difficult. Instrumentalists today have more opportunities than ever to freelance and perform with multiple artists. While that growth is positive and well deserved, it can make things harder for singers who are still trying to establish a steady team and sound around their work.
For Navjot, one of the most difficult phases came during 2021 and 2022, when he was doing club shows almost every day. It was a period of relentless performance, but not always personal fulfillment. He was largely singing covers because clubs were not open to original songs that audiences did not yet know.
For a new Indian singer and songwriter, that can be a painful compromise. To perform constantly and still not have the freedom to share your own voice requires not just resilience, but restraint.
“Khat” and the Grace of Staying Unchanged
After 14 years of effort, Navjot’s new love song Khat became a defining milestone. Professionally, he acknowledges that the song changed how society viewed him as a musician. It strengthened his place in the public eye and altered his standing in meaningful ways.
Yet personally, he remains unchanged.
That is perhaps the most striking part of his story. Navjot says his routine is still the same. His calm is still the same. His writing process is still the same. He does not want success or failure to interfere with the purity of his art. For him, emotional detachment from public outcomes is essential because the moment an artist becomes too attached to validation, the writing begins to shift.
His joy comes not from numbers, but from the attempt. If he has tried to improve his skill today, if he has written his heart out more honestly than before, then he is at peace.
Growth, Not Glory, Remains the Real Goal
Even now, Navjot is not consumed by labels such as singles artist, performer, or digital success story. His focus remains deeply personal. He wants to sing better. He wants to play instruments better. He wants to understand himself more. And he wants to become a kinder person.
That is what makes Navjot Ahuja’s journey so moving. It is not simply the story of a musician finding recognition. It is the story of an artist who continues to grow inward, even as the world begins to look outward at him. In an age obsessed with applause, Navjot reminds us that the most meaningful success often begins in silence, honesty, and the courage to remain true to oneself.
