The Andhra Pradesh chief minister has announced a good package to boost the business of cinemas in the state. A meeting of the Andhra Pradesh cabinet, presided over by chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, recently approved the package for restarting the film industry. This is because in view of the heavy losses suffered during the nine-month closure, many cinemas have still not reopened even after the lockdown was lifted. The package offers three salient benefits to cinemas. They are:
(1) The state has waived electricity charges of cinemas for the first three months (April, May, June) of the pandemic lockdown. A moratorium has been granted for payment for the balance 6 months.
(2) The state will provide working capital loan to cinemas to restart after the lockdown closure of nine months.
(3) A loan of Rs. 10 lakh will be offered to cinemas in ‘A’- and ‘B’-class centres to get back on track. Realising that cinemas in smaller places would need lesser money to restart operations, the loan amount for cinemas in ‘C’-class centres would be Rs. 5 lakh. There will be a moratorium of six months on payments, and interest subsidy of 4.5 percent will be borne by the state government, which will cost the exchequer Rs. 4.18 crore.