NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry will pursue with the Finance Ministry issues relating to greater inflow of foreign direct investment, incentives to the cable TV industry, and concessions like customs exemption for set top boxes as part of its attempt to push digitisation by December 2014.

I&B Secretary Uday Kumar Varma said the government was also concerned about the shortage of digital STBs and was examining ways to increase indigenous production if the sunset dates had to be met.

He reiterated that the Government stood committed to phasing out analogue by December 2014 from the entire country as this would help the cable and broadcasting industry and also the viewer.
 
Addressing a meet of CEOs of Broadcasting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said the government was working towards a programme for capacity building for the cable operators and would introduce orientation programmes for this.

At the same time, the Government asked to the industry to come forward with ways to create public awareness about the benefits of digitisation. He said the industry and the Government would have to work together on this.

He said he failed to understand why the industry was not coming forward to discuss the spectrum issues with the government.

Varma said the whole aim should be to visualise how the industry wanted to see the TV industry 10 years from now.

He said no policy could be carried forward by the government without taking the industry with it, and therefore it was important that the two should work together.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman JS Sarma referred to the plans of the regulator to increase the reach of broadband. He also said Trai would open regional offices in different parts of the country to help the broadcast and telecom industries. He said the regulator had been working in close coordination with the government on digitisation.

CII Media and Entertainment Committee chairman Amit Khanna referred to meetings held with Sarma and said this process would continue. He said that the CII and the entertainment industry would also meet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee early next month in connection with its wish list for the entertainment sector.

He also announced that the PriceWaterhouse Coopers was preparing a vision document on the radio industry in the country.

He said the CII would be organising a one-day meet on content in cinema and TV in Mumbai in March.

The meet was attended by the heads of various television channels, apart from members of civil rights groups and research bodies.

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate is looking into complaints of criminal activities like money laundering against Indian Premier League (IPL), Parliament was informed today.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in the Rajya Sabha in reply to questions that there are certain "irregularities which are being looked into, particularly relating to some complaints received that there are investments, so far as IPL is concerned, from outside."

"Those are being looked into by the Enforcement Directorate because those are the criminal activities like money laundering," Mukherjee said.

He said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which organises the IPL Twenty20 series had enjoyed income tax exemptions till 2006. This registration was lost in 2006 following verdict of the Allahabad High Court. Since then, BCCI is subject to tax.

He said BCCI itself has taken certain action against IPL. Since the BCCI was earlier exempted from income tax, "there was no question for them to show low income," Mukherjee said, adding the authorities have raised the tax demand after the BCCI lost registration under the Madras Registrations Act.

Tax demands were raised for the assessment years 2007-08 and 2008-09 amounting to Rs 1.18 billion and Rs 2.57 billion respectively. As much as Rs 2.49 billion has already been recovered from BCCI, Mukherjee said.

The gross receipts disclosed by BCCI in its tax returns for the assessment years 2007-08 to 2010-11 are Rs 6.52 billion, Rs 10 billion, Rs 13.88 billion and Rs 16.67 billion respectively, Mukherjee said.

The concerned agencies are looking into the "criminal activities and other areas" under relevant laws, he added.