Franchises concerned over entertainment tax

With little more than two weeks left for the start of the Indian Premier League, the eight franchises will meet the IPL governing council on April 2 in Mumbai to discuss key issues like security and ticketing. The franchises will also seek clarity and help from the BCCI-backed IPL council on gaining exemption from paying entertainment tax to local governments on the matches they host.

Charu Sharma, the CEO of the Bangalore franchise, said that IPL is a tournament run by the BCCI and if the board usually gets exemption from the tax while staging matches, the franchises also should get a similar treatment. "We don't own the stadium or even the players for that matter," Sharma told Cricinfo. "We have them in for a team activity, which is run by BCCI, and I think we should get exemption. We will raise the issue in the meeting."

The franchises are already in the process of fixing ticket prices for the matches - Rs 125 to well over 5000 in Bangalore, and between Rs 200 and 3000 for a game in Hyderabad - and one factor that would affect the rate is the entertainment tax. The working committee of the BCCI took a decision on March 25 that the franchises would be left to deal with the tax and the franchises, for their part, plan to seek exemption.

"This is a BCCI-run event and we hope we would be exempt," J Krishnan, the Hyderabad franchise CEO, said.

Yogesh Shetty, the CEO of the Delhi team, however, said that they were ready for the probability of paying that tax. "We are a for-profit organisation and IPL is entertainment and I do see the government at state levels levying the tax. However, what we have to see is whether legally we come under the auspices of BCCI, which is a not-for-profit organisation, and if so can we be exempt from the tax. Anyway this is a state-level issue involving local governments and we will deal with it appropriately."

The franchises believe security and ticketing could be key issues, too. Most of the teams have no previous experience of organising a cricket match and plan to seek BCCI's counsel in helping them get ready for the event.

The Bangalore franchise will be hosting the opening ceremony of the tournament and plans to get clarity on the how the event should be hosted. "We have to make sure the ground doesn't get affected," said Sharma. "We will of course seek the help of the KSCA [Karnataka State Cricket Association] but we will be going into details of the launch in the meeting; what we can do and what we can't."

Other issues like "look and feel of the stadium", anti- doping procedures and anti-corruption protocol are also on the agenda, said a franchise representative.