NEW DELHI: Film Federation of India (FFI), a body of cinema associations and exhibitors across the country, has called for a strike on February 23 demanding withdrawal of service tax on the film industry.

The federation claimed that as a result of the one-day strike, over 9,000 standalone movie theatres will remain shut. Multiplexes, however, will not be a part of the strike.

The association members met Union finance minister and I&B minister in the last few weeks asking for a rollback of the proposed 10.3% service tax.

As per FFI estimates, the number of screens in the country is over 10,000, of which about 900 are in multiplexes. "The Indian film industry is in deep trouble because of the various taxes imposed on it, and service tax only increases the heavy burden," said Vinod Lamba, FFI president. He, however, did not comment on the financial impact of the strike.

"Introduced in 2010, the proposal is to charge service tax at each stage of the film going from the producer to the distributor to the exhibitor. Since that has not been paid, we have started receiving notices and that is why we want the government to look into the issue," Lamba said.

He added, "We want to bring it to the notice of the government that while 1,200 films are made in India every year, only a handful are successful. What the industry needs is concession and not additional taxes." According to him, passing the burden of the tax onto consumers will lead to raising of ticket prices that are already high.