Mission Mangal to be tax-free

Mumbai: Tickets to Akshay Kumar’s latest blockbuster Mission Mangal are set to get cheaper as the state Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to refund the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that is usually collected by cinema houses.

According to the proposal, instead of collecting GST from viewers, cinema houses will pay up from their own coffers and the state government will refund this amount till December 31, 2019.

The commissioner of state tax of the GST department will chalk out the refund system, and the state will issue a government resolution (GR) in this regard soon.

Officials said that the government is trying to ensure that the film’s story reaches the common man as the movie is based on the life of scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) who contributed to the Mars Orbiter Mission, India’s first interplanetary expedition.

Previously, Hrithik Roshan’s Super 30, based on the life of mathematician Anand Kumar, renowned for his Super 30 programme, had been declared tax-free in July by the state government.