Monday, February 29, 2016

Union Budget 2016: Industry experts and Analysts hail pro start-up budget.

The Union Budget 2016 which was presented yesterday centered on 9 key pillars----agriculture, rural sector, social sector, education and job creation, infrastructure investment, financial sector reforms, governance and ease of doing business, fiscal discipline and tax reforms.

Although there wasn’t too much direct impact on media and entertainment The focus on rural and start-up development could have an indirect effect on the sector, especially on the back of consecutive droughts and shrinking rural demand. 

"It appears that there is very little directly for the M&E sector. Except for the point about subjecting sales of spectrum to service tax. For ENIL however, the service tax will be fully set-off, so overall impact should be neutral. This aside, there is a provision for higher Dividend Distribution tax that would affect all corporates, not just those in M&E," said Prashant Panday, CEO and MD of ENIL -Radio Mirchi.
Harrish Bhatia, CEO of MY FM also agreed that none of the issues highlighted earlier were addressed, for example, exemption of service tax as is the case for print publications, OTF to be collected in installment like in telecom industry and waiver of custom duties for import of broadcasting equipment.
On the government’s decision to levy service tax on radio spectrum, he said, “We do not appreciate this move, there is no service that the government is extending to radio broadcaster by providing spectrum.”

Partha Iyengar, VP & Gartner Fellow and Country Manager Research (India) of Gartner, said the budget had a number of "baby steps"; focus on rural skills development and improvement of rural digital literacy, incentivizing the creation of domestic IP and driving domestic innovation, focus on infrastructure outlays, creating a favourable environment for startups, continuing the ‘Make in India’ focus with a few more specific ‘catalysts’ announced in the budget, etc.

"As always though, the devil is in the implementation of these schemes. It is good to see a mention of review of program effectiveness as one of the goals in the budget, but till we see that followed up religiously it is hard to give it credence,” he added.

Zafar Rais, CEO of MindShift Interactive said the budget made for “mixed reactions” though he admitted that it had gone beyond to encourage entrepreneurship across all boards and also of specific categories like the SC/STs. 
“The government in the past had mentioned to cut down the corporate tax and has proposed with regard to small units having a turnover of Rs 5 crore, reduction in corporate tax rate from 30 per cent to 29 per cent. ​This should prove to be rather advantageous. Service tax getting an increase from 14.5 to 15 per cent in the form of the Krishi Kalyan Cess​ is not an affirmative highlight as it adds pressure on negotiations, when looking at net billings that clients demand. From a media and advertising standpoint, an increase in service tax, especially on electronic goods doesn't seem favourable at all. We would have preferred a more future-focused policy regarding this particular aspect," he added.

Sanjeev Gupta, MD of Global Advertisers added that not increasing taxes was a major positive, especially given the pro-development stance taken by the government and the allotment of money to rural infrastructure, railways and road development. "We are also seeing great potential in expanding our reach to small cities now. The finance minister has also hinted at amending motor vehicles act for better transportation facility in the country. This may give us the opportunity to position our ads more effectively while on the move. We feel that in this critical economic condition, the budget has been so far satisfactory for the advertising industry,” he commented.

“As part of the budget proposals, India has levied an equalisation levy - what is known as ‘google tax’ globally. The tax @ 6 per cent of the consideration will apply on services relating to online advertisement, provisions on online ad space or other facility or services for the purpose of online advertisement, when such services are provided by a non-resident to either an Indian resident or a non-resident having a permanent establishment in India, the payer for these services are required to deduct 6 per cent prior to making the payment. This is the first time that online services are being specifically taxed in India on such differential basis. The impact of this levy will be that firstly, the income of foreign websites/ apps will now be liable to this tax. The taxes are levied under separate code and service providers may not be able to claim credit for the same in their home country. Additionally, there may be additional scrutiny on such transactions under Income Tax law,” said Rakesh Jariwala, Tax Partner, Media and Entertainment, EY

"FM gives impetus to the PM’s ‘Make in India’ dream by rationalising Customs and Excise duty rates on inputs, components used in IT, Defence and Textile sectors. Auto industry will be impacted by the whammy of infrastructure cess ranging from 1 per cent to 4 per cent levied on manufacture of motor vehicles," opined Amit Bhagat, Partner (Indirect Tax) at PwC India.

Siddhartha Roy, CEO of Hungama.com said, "The Union Budget 2016 has paved the way for rural digitization with a focus on digital literacy. The aim to connect 6 crore households will provide a stronger reach and deeper penetration for digital and technology driven services in rural India, thus allowing residents a plethora of services. The digital literacy scheme announced by Mr. Arun Jaitley in rural India will not only give rise to increased manpower but also boost employment generation. The budget is an indication of the government's resolve towards the ‘Digital India’ scheme."
 Neel Ratan, Partner and Leader (Government and Public Sector) at PwC India commented, "Renewed focus on ensuring ease of doing business will reinforce positive investment climate for global investors as well as foster a culture of start-ups with the much awaited amendment of Companies Act. This will have a cascading effect with youngsters becoming job creators rather than job seekers, constructively channelizing the energy of India's youth and catapulting nation into the league of developed nations. National Career Service is emerging as a robust go-to-portal for job seekers; the move to inter-link National Career Service with state employment exchanges will eliminate bottlenecks and fast-track the filling up of job vacancies. Moreover, the announcement of 100 model career centres for National Career Service Portal will revive the traditional job search and massively add to the reliability of the portal, making it the preferred mode for searching jobs."

Bhavin Turakhia, CEO and Co-founder of Directi praised the government's intent on revitalizing agriculture, infrastructure, skill development and higher education sectors. 
"Amendments in the Companies Act and the ‘Stand up India’ scheme will boost the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Most importantly, the government has indeed offered unique opportunities to start-ups, categorizing them as critical partners for the ‘Make in India’ programme. The proposed 100 per cent tax deduction for new start-ups for the first three years, along with the speedy registration mechanism is quite noteworthy,” he added.

Budget 2016: A Mixed Bag For Ad Agencies?

As Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tabled the Union Budget 2016 today in the Parliament, expectations were afloat from all corners on how this year's budget should look like. While the media industry asked for a rationalized entertainment tax, exempt newsprint from VAT and end double taxation on temporary transfer of movie rights to television channels, the advertising agencies vowed for push for Digital India and no hike in service tax.

As per experts, overall there are some positives and some negatives in the budget.

According to Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO, South Asia - Dentsu Aegis Network and Chairman, Posterscope & MKTG - Asia Pacific, "Not increasing the service tax is a positive, particularly for the advertising and media sector. General expectation was that Service Tax may go up in anticipation of higher GST rates. Controlling the fiscal deficit and several steps to invigorate the rural economy and rural consumption are positive signals. A rural consumption revival will help the economy and the advertising and media sector tremendously," he informs.

Meanwhile, the Government's focus on infrastructural development with an outlay at Rs 2.21 Lakh crore, with proactive steps to boost growth for highways sector, is also expected to provide a fillip to outdoor advertising.

Presenting Budget for 2016-17 in Parliament, Jaitley said infrastructure is one of the strong pillars of economy and "exemplary" and "proactive" steps by government to remove hurdles resulted in India awarding highest ever road contracts in 2015 as well as highest ever sales of motor vehicles which are clearly "signs of growth".

Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers, "Outdoor advertising is primarily dependent on the infrastructure of the country. Good roads, flyovers, sky-rises, public transport, utility spaces... all of these contribute towards the development of the advertising industry. With Our government's promises on "Development", we hope to see a larger picture of the government's "Make in India" project. We wish to see speedy action on the development of Smart Cities and Bullet Trains. With this budget, we hope there is generation of better opportunities for entrepreneurs, more jobs for the youth and less pressure on our pockets."

However, on the negative side there was an expectation, based on what the Finance Minister said in the past, that corporate tax rates would come down. That was not to be seen for most large companies.

Meanwhile, introducing double taxation on dividends is also a negative. "In balance this seems to me to be a mixed bag budget with a positive bias. If it is able to spur overall economic growth, we could see good times ahead for the advertising and media sector," Ashish Bhasin opined.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Global Advertisers executes outdoor campaign for Nahar Builders

Mumbai: Global Advertisers, India’s one stop solution for outdoor advertising has launched impressive out-of-home campaign for Nahar Cayenne- a new project from the Nahar group in Mumbai at Andheri. The agency has put up premier hoarding of A+ category for the promotion of Nahar Cayenne in the city.




Commenting on the campaign, Sanjeev Gupta, Managing Director, Global Advertisers said, “ As per the requirement of our client, we have put up a display at the important junction of the city to grab the eyeball of commuters on the go. Our team is specialized in real-estate advertising and we have executed more 20000+ such projects and brands so far. Its been a great experience while working on Nahar group.”

Nahar Cayenne offers spacious 1 and 2 BHK residences at Chandivali, Powai.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Global Advertisers puts up premium hoardings for musical event- Main Shaayar

Mumbai: Global Advertisers has engaged its finest billboards for an upcoming musical event, Main Shaayar. It is an initiative by Anup Jalota Welfare Foundation to commemorate the magical voices of the legends of Music Industry. The concert will  feature Anup Jalota, Suresh Wadkar, Talat Aziz, Anuradha Paudwal, Richa Sharma, Madhushree, Kshitij Tarey and Shailja Subtamaniam.




Speaking on the campaign, Sanjeev Gupta, Managing Director, Global Advertisers, said “Outdoor advertising plays an important role in promoting events across the city to increase the footfall in the event. We have executed the campaign for –Main Shayar on hoardings situated near the venue, catering to right target audience and areas where music enthusiasts reside. We are glad to be associated with Anuj ji’s initiative and expect to yield good results through our promotion.”

The concert will be held at Shanmukhananda Hall, Mumbai on 25th Feb, 2016, 7 PM onwards.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Global Advertisers promotes Kala Coast –a musical symphony

Mumbai: India’s smartest outdoor agency, Global Advertisers has partnered with Kala Coast – a conglomerate of eminent artistes, musicians and well wishers from different parts of India. Kala Coast has been conceptualized by reputed international musician and composer Sudhir Nayak, based in Mumbai.



Commenting on the campaign, Sanjeev Gupta, Managing Director, Global Advertisers, said “We are glad to be a part of this music festival. Our hoardings are dedicated to maximize the reach of Kala Coast across Mumbai, so that music lovers gather at the event in large numbers”

The event is schedule from 19 to 21 Feb 2016 at Gyan Sagar Amphitheatre, Borivali west 6 PM onward. 

Monday, February 15, 2016

Global Advertisers creates buzz for Ishq Forever – a comeback movie of cancer survivor Lisa Ray

Mumbai: India’s smartest out-of-home agency, Global Advertisers has put up large display for upcoming Bollywood film Ishq Forever. It’s a romantic and musical film directed by Sameer Sippy. They had organized a party at Juhu Club Millennium, Vile Parle (w), Mumbai on 10th February 2016. The event was attended by film star cast Lisa Ray, newcomer Krishna Chaturvedi, Ruhi Singh and Sanjeev Gupta,MD of Global Advertisers.

Speaking on the campaign, Sanjeev Gupta,MD of Global Advertisers said “We have 18+ years of experience in promoting movies through outdoor medium. Our team at Global has selected the right mix of hoardings to promote the movie across Mumbai. We expect to see great result of our campaign on the box-office collection of the movie.”
The film is slated to be released on 19th February 2016.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Global Advertisers launches OOH campaign for Raj Torres- a property by Rajesh Lifespaces


Rajesh LifeSpaces has given beautiful skyline to Mumbai through their landmark constructions over the years.  Adding another premium project to their portfolio, Rajesh Lifespaces has launched “Raj Torres” in Thane. The project has been promoted by India’s pioneering out-of-home agency, Global Advertisers, across the city of Mumbai.

Speaking on the campaign, Sanjeev Gupta, Managing Director of Global Advertisers said, “Our team understands the exact needs of the city’s builders and developers and therefore, deployed only outdoor tools to promote the project across the city that cater to their exact needs. The campaign can be seen of popular roads, highways, buses and shelters and is as flamboyant as the the brand itself.”

Raj Torres provides state-of-art-facilities like gymnasium, swimming pool and indoor games to potential buyers and currently offers wing C and D for sale. 

Monday, February 8, 2016

Mumbai’s Veena Builders flags off OOH campaign with Global Advertisers

Mumbai, one of the most populous cities of the country, is currently home to more than 12 million people, which puts a huge challenge on the face of the city builders. For them, it’s difficult to find construction sites and marketing homes are big tasks that demand constant solutions. Keeping these concerns in mind, Veena Builders has assigned the outdoor promotion duty of its newly launched project-Veena Santoor 2 to India’s smartest outdoor agency-Global Advertisers.




Speaking on the campaign, Sanjeev Gupta, Managing Director of Global Advertisers said, “To make the brand stand apart from the clutter of various builders, we have executed the campaign on A+ hoardings at prominent residential and commercial places. Our static media tools such as hoardings at main road junctions and bus media on busy routes are also being deployed for Santoor-2.”

Veena Santoor is an ideal place to live. Located in Borivali West, it offers 1BHK and 2BHK Luxurious Apartments at affordable prices and is encircled within beautiful surroundings. 

Global Advertisers creates OOH campaign for ‘Make in India Week’ in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Taking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream project forward, the Government of India is organising the ‘Make in India Week’ in Mumbai and has associated with Global Advertisers to craft out this massive campaign.
As part of the project, Global Advertisers has designed an extensively thought-through out-of-home campaign that showcases large-scale hoardings and billboards pertaining to the event in highly strategic locations of the city. It is pertinent to note here that the event is being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry across the country.

                       

Speaking on the campaign, Global Advertisers managing director Sanjeev Gupta said, “I am extremely honoured to be associated with this project. India is home to a massive domestic market and we are just beginning to recognize this potential. I am humbled that CII has chosen Global Advertisers to contribute towards this project and we have created a very strategic plan to make this campaign humungously popular. I firmly believe in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make In India” theory and we shall do our every bit to take this project forward.”

The ‘Make in India Week’ will showcase the people, policies and partnerships that are driving India’s new manufacturing revolution. Set against the vibrant backdrop of India’s commercial capital – Mumbai, this week long calendar will offer unprecedented access, insights and opportunities to connect and collaborate with India and global Industry leaders/ visionaries, academicians, central and state administrations.


‘Make in India Week’ will be conducted from 13-18 February in BKC ground.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Global Advertisers partners with Celebrity Cricket League

The media owning company has displayed large billboards across Mumbai at prominent locations
Global Advertisers has been doing a lot of campaigns recently and this time around joined hands with Manoj Tiwari, the owner and captain of ‘Bhojhpuri Dabang'. The association has led Global Advertisers to handle the outdoor promotion of the team, during the upcoming season of the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL).



To promote the team, the firm has displayed large billboards across Mumbai at prominent locations which is Andheri, Dadar, Sion, Santacruz, Juhu, Prabhadevi, Marine Drive and Thane. CCL is one of the most awaited events of the year; the sixth edition of the league has begun from January 23, 2016.

Commenting on the association, Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers said, "Our association with the team and CCL has great potential. The team has a good line-up of batsmen and bowlers from the Bhojpuri film industry. I am excited to watch Ravi Kishan and Nirahua play the game. Over the years, CCL has become a very popular tourney amongst the masses and it's a great platform to reach out to a large set of live audience, all at once."

Celebrity Cricket League is played between eight teams. The teams comprises all the who's who of the Indian film industry from Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bhojpuri, Bengali and Punjabi movie industry. It brings together over 200 film celebrities from all over the country to entertain their fans and audiences.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Global Advertisers executes large scale OOH campaign for Mahindra Vivante


3 Feb, 2016, Mumbai:  Mahindra Vivante, the brand-new division of real estate builder Mahindra Lifespaces, has rolled out an outdoor campaign with Global Advertisers- India’s smartest outdoor agency. Given that Mahindra Vivante is head-quartered in Andheri East, the campaign has been primarily executed across key locations around Andheri East. Meanwhile, the campaign is also up on hoardings at distant locations including Mulund, Thane and Ghodbhunder. 




Speaking on the campaign, Managing Director, Sanjeev Gupta, Global Advertisers said, “Real estate as an industry has always been heavy advertisers on outdoor. We have customized packages and exciting deals for them. For Mahindra Vivante, our team has deployed big displays within market areas, around main road zones and also on highways to maximize the reach of the campaign."

Mahindra Vivante is spread across more than 3 acres of land and enjoys close proximity to all social facilities in Andheri.

Monday, February 1, 2016

Rare Heritage ties up with Global Advertisers to launch their first outdoor campaign


2 Feb, 2016, Mumbai: Rare Heritage, a venture of the legendary jewellery house - Mehta Emporium, has launched its first outdoor promotion campaign with India’s premium out-of-home agency, Global Advertisers.

The agency has executed the campaign on large billboards across Mumbai to spread awareness about the luxury store.





Speaking on the campaign, Sanjeev Gupta, Managing Director of Global Advertisers said, “As per the brief given by our client, we have carved out a multi-location outdoor campaign to increase the footfalls of the store. Rare Heritage caters to the HNI group and hence, our hoardings are placed at locations like Marine Lines, Peddar Road, Andheri and the Western suburban areas. Given that our client's products are high on fashion and glamour, our marketing team has ensured greater reach for this campaign by executing the campaign at strategic locations across the city."

Rare Heritage is a one-stop showroom of vintage jewellery collection, stylised garments and artefacts for passionate shoppers.