AP Govt to constitute a new committee on hike in movie ticket prices

Vijayawada, Jan 21: The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has suggested that a three-member committee be formed to look into the proposal to hike the price of movie tickets in the State.

When the issue came up for discussion at the Cabinet meeting held on Saturday, the Chief Minister said that the committee should draft recommendations regarding the issue.

Even though the State government had formed a committee last year, it did not pursue the matter. As a result, film distributors and theatre managements have been obtaining interim permissions from the government to hike ticket prices -- to Rs.300 and Rs.200 from Rs.200 and Rs.150 respectively in multiplexes, and Rs 200 and Rs 120 from Rs 120 and Rs 80 in single-screen theatres -- during holidays and festive seasons in the last two years.

However, according to sources, the previous committee had already made its recommendations to hike the prices. "The committee had made its recommendations to hike the ticket fares, but the government did not release any order as it was unable to fix the taxation slabs post GST implementation," said a senior member from Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce.

The member added that the new committee would resolve the taxation issue to fix a scientific tariff. It may also be recalled that the High Court, in a directive earlier this month, had allowed the theatre management to hike the prices due to the failure of the state government to fix a revised tariff.