Panaji : Film shooting could be a major growth for the tourism industry in India, union tourism minister Subodh Kant Sahay said Saturday, promising a tax reimbursement structure soon to attract more filmmakers to the country.
Sahay was speaking to reporters at the 42nd International Film Festival of India that is being held in partnership with the tourism ministry’s flagship ‘Incredible India’ promotion campaign.
“We are working out a model through which union tourism ministry will provide money to state governments to reimburse the tax paid by filmmakers – both Indian and foreign – who are shooting in the Indian locales,” said Sahay, after a meeting with a delegation of foreign and Indian film makers.
The minister also said that a single window clearance mechanism would also be worked out nationally in order to ensure that film makers do not have trouble and hassles in getting permissions for shooting in India, adding that a similar experiment in Goa, where the state run Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) operates a single window clearance system, had been a learning experience.
“There are complaints from the foreign filmmakers that they are facing difficulty to get the visa clearances. We are working with the prime minister’s office to sort out these issues,” he said.
IANS
