Budget 2022: OOH leaders pin hopes on tax cuts, standardization of laws & relief packages

Two years of pandemic-enforced lockdowns, the new norm of WFH and the cuts in marketing budgets have enormously affected the OOH medium. However, with the economy opening up and the Union Budget round the corner, OOH industry heads are really hopeful that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will come up with favourable decisions and the much-needed push for the sector.

A reduction in GST, relief packages, a concession for CapEx for Digital OOH - these are some of the top ones in the OOH wish list. In other words, the sector is looking forward to a growth-oriented budget. 

According to Ajay Mehta, Founder and MD, Interactive Television (iTV) and MD, Kinetic India, the OOH industry has been deeply impacted by the pandemic and a package specifically for the sector would go a long way in reviving the businesses. “The OOH industry suffers a lot of problems because local bi-laws and regulatory bodies who govern this media differ from state to state, market to market. Some sort of standardization across the country -One Country, One Law - will help advertisers invest in this medium with confidence. I don’t think all this can happen in the Budget but some direction will help in eventually moving us to a One-Window Clearance kind of system.”

Mehta further emphasises that digital OOH is the future and is emerging as the preferred medium across the world. However, he noted, “It is a CapEx-heavy medium and certain concessions for CapEx related to DOOH will go a long way in bringing this sector close to world standards.”

According to Atul Shrivastava, CEO & ED, Laqshya Media Group, the importance of cash flow in any business is needless to say of utmost importance, just like in the media and advertising industry. “Therefore, agencies should be provided tax relief on account of the pandemic.”

Shrivastava further said, “This will help agencies to distribute the money to the entire ecosystem - its clients, employees, vendors and partners - and help boost consumer spending and demand. Also, tax regulations need to be empathetic in today’s difficult times. This will go a long way in providing relief to media and advertising businesses.”

The OOH medium relies heavily on infrastructure and sharing insights from this perspective, Shrivastava said: “The government to its credit has done well on infrastructure spending in the last several years, and it must continue to plan the same. This is bound to help the Indian economy to flourish over a longer period, and all efforts in this direction must be supported and applauded. One important thing is the allocation of Budgets to ministries, which execute their campaigns through DAVP. Payments get stuck in DAVP for even more than a year as they don't get funds to settle bills of agencies. Hence, agencies are not very keen to take up DAVP campaigns and often offer non-prominent media.”

Stating similar thoughts, Pramod Bhandula, Executive Chairman at JCDecaux Advertising India, said the industry was looking forward to receiving support from the government and GST reduction from 18 per cent to 12 per cent would be a huge support for the struggling sector. “A relief package must be announced for the OOH industry with a provision in the Budget for directing authorities to evoke force majeure and consider 2020-2021 as a black-out period.”

Jayesh Yagnik, CEO, MOMS Outdoor Media Solutions is looking for quick resolutions. “Advertising is one medium that has been hit hard during the pandemic. OOH has been the worst affected vertical of advertising due to lockdowns and restricted mobility. We, as an industry, are hoping that there should be some amount of support for a faster and better revival of the industry.”

“The government is encouraging the use of technology in all aspects of various businesses and the same should be done to boost DOOH presence across the country. Also, a long-term push should boost both the urban and rural media with adequate infrastructure supporting outdoor advertising as a medium.”

With inputs from Rasika Upasani