Members of the Tamil Film Producer’s Council Committee met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday in Chennai to discuss problems related to the Goods and Services Tax and service tax in the film industry.

The members reportedly spoke to the finance minister about the current challenges facing their business considering the economic situation.  The producer’s council has also been urging state government officials to computerise the sale of movie tickets in order to track it better. Competition from international streaming networks too have posed a challenge to traditional cinema.

According to reports, J Satish Kumar, one of the members of the producers’ council said that the Finance Minister had agreed to recommend exceptions to GST paid by stakeholders of the Tamil film industry. 

Satish Kumar also added that a system where GST is automatically credited when a customer buys a ticket should be put in place instead of producers and distributors paying to the government.

The union minister also reportedly asked the council members to come to Delhi and present these recommendations to the Finance Ministry’s office. 

Several disputes have happened in the recent past with Tamil film producers and actors over the topic of compensation. According to the Tamil Film Producers Council consulting committee, the issue arose from a degree of mistrust between the producers, distributors and actors, since there was no accurate way to gauge box office collections. 

Earlier, state information and broadcasting minister Kadambur Raju had promised to implement the council’s request to computerise all ticket sales in the state.