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UP DTH service providers lose plea on entertainment tax
NEW DELHI: A bunch of writ petitions filed by leading direct-to-home services providers challenging the Uttar Pradesh government‘s decision to levy entertainment tax on sale of its equipments as well as on recharge coupons has been dismissed by the Allahabad High Court.
Justice Sunil Ambwani and Justice Aditya Nath Mittal turned down the petitions filed by the DTH service providers who had moved the court after receiving notices from the state government for payment of entertainment tax. The petitioners had contended that the state government had no power to impose the tax.
However, the court said: “the state legislature is not denuded by its powers to levy entertainment tax on entertainment provided by either cable TV network or DTH services or any other emerging technology”.
The court also rejected the demand to declare an impugned section of the UP Entertainment and Betting Tax Act as ultra vires of the Constitution, observing “the court would interfere only where a clear infraction of constitutional provision is established”.
Referring to a number of Supreme Court orders, the court said: “The Supreme Court has expressed a note of caution that the burden is all the more heavier when the legislation under attack is a taxing statute, since the powers of the legislature in classifying objects for the purpose of taxation are wide”.
The court also dismissed as a “feeble argument” the petitioners‘ contention that “the rate of entertainment tax on DTH services” was “discriminatory in comparison to the cable services”.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
