Newspaper industry in very real danger of turning “sick”: INS seeks two-year tax holiday after “triple whammy” of Coronavirus, falling ad revenues, and customs duty on newsprint

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Forever wailing, the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) has sought a two-year tax holiday from the Union government following the “triple whammy” of #coronavirus, collapsing ad revenues, and customs duty on imported newsprint.

In a letter to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, INS president Shailesh Gupta of Dainik Jagran says the newspaper industry is at a “hitherto unimaginable sutuation”.

Long opposed to Foreign Direct Investment, INS has opened a new flank on behalf of its members:

“Just one and significantly Chinese-owned digital news aggregator operating in India without any controls whatsoever has nearly 10 times the number of Indian susbscribers as compared to the combined readership of English newspapers combined.”

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