Thread: Tata Sky not to pass service tax benefit to consumers

Well today i have seen in some article that tatasky is not going to reduce their package prices even after the Service tax reduction of 2% by govt. Tata sky is not fleeting the same benefit of reduced service tax to their customers.

They are not going to reduce their package prices and also cheats with their consumers.

Where dishtv which have already passon the full benefit of reduced service tax to their consumers and reduced the price of their packages.

Information source: Direct-To-Home, IPTV & Satellite Radio News

Service Tax is no something that Tatasky can keep for themselves. They cannot refund the service tax already collected but for all new renewals, they will have to charge tax as per government rules. But they could increase the cost of the package in such a way that the overall package cost remains same as before (for the customer) but TS benefits by increasing the package cost.

DishTV has priced the packages as Rs. xxx + service tax. Hence their customers will benefit automatically.

I think tata sky will increase the package prices again in such a way that it remains same even after the reduction of service tax. but looking at the recent price increase this may not also happen. lets see. but i have never seen any kind of reduction in prices from tata sky in the last 2+ years

Neither Big Tv, nor Airtel is doing it as well. So its wrong to single out Tata Sky about this. Also, the reduction will be around Rs 4-5 which won't make anyone a millionaire!

Originally Posted by Mirzarocx

Neither Big Tv, nor Airtel is doing it as well. So its wrong to single out Tata Sky about this. Also, the reduction will be around Rs 4-5 which won't make anyone a millionaire!

Hello! (knocks on the skull). Anybody home! Think, Mirza, think!!

There are 4m customers as claimed by TataSky. Let us take that figure with a pinch of salt - assume 2.5 million. A typical TataSky package costs Rs. 260 to 300.

Let us assume the average - Rs. 275. This Rs. 275 was earlier made up of Rs. 244.75 as the package cost and Rs. 30.25 as service tax. Now Rs. 275/- will be made up of Rs. 249.32 as package cost and Rs. 25.68 as service tax. The DTH company benefits by Rs. 4.57 per month per connection. Multiply this:

= Rs. 4.57 * 2,500,000 * 12 = Rs. 137,100,000 per year.

That is how much the Tatasky will benefit - a coooooool Rs. 137.1 million per year.

Being a fan of your provider is alright. But government has reduced service tax so that the common man may benefit. Any tax reduction must be passed to the consumer.

^^ very well explained. and add some more millions to it. this calculaton is only for one package. most users use multiple packages. like the various sports packages, lifestyle package etc etc.


This is very similar to what the shoe manufacturer 'BATA' did a few years ago. i dont remember the exact numbers but the trick was this:

all shoes from BATA were priced at Rs. ****.99 or ****.95

and very obviously the payments from everyone was made in whole numbers ... these 1paisa and 5paise added up to a huge amount.


This also reminds me the case of one hacker(unethical). i dont remember the name and exact details. but he stole 1cent from billions of accounts. nobody notices such amount.

Oh! That hacker you are talking about did the following. Whenever, interest, charges, and other such calculations were done, he programmed the computer in such a way that:

• If the round off happned to the next higher 2nd decimal place, viz., 24.4270394 to 24.43, then do nothing.
• If the round off meant loosing the extras after the 2nd decimal place, viz., 24.4235684 to 24.42, then the program transferred the 0.0035684, to a special account owned by the hacker.
• But these small amount were not added in quantums. All the small quantums were added up for the entire run of all the accounts and converted into a photon (larger sum) and that sum was transferred to the account.
• Even then the daily transfer hardly ever exceeded $5~$10 per day.
• The theft was discovered when someone wondered who was transacting in such small amounts daily.

If TataSky does not wish to transfer the ST rate cut to consumers, then they can be taken to court. You can also file an RTI inquiry or a PIL.

Originally Posted by Mirzarocx

Neither Big Tv, nor Airtel is doing it as well. So its wrong to single out Tata Sky about this. Also, the reduction will be around Rs 4-5 which won't make anyone a millionaire!

not you and me
but they operator gains a lot

whats the scene with other operators on this.. any idea...

As I said, DishTV has specified the plans' prices as Rs. xxx + Service Tax. So ST benefit will go to the customer.

But before you think that "Dish TV is so nice ..." etc., etc., I am more inclinded to think that this is an advertising gimmick that has backfired.

a) DishTV annouced plan prices as Rs. xxx + service tax. This makes people think that the package cost is low.

b) They probably did not expect that govt. will reduce tax rate.

c) Now that govt. has done the unexpected, they cannot "gain" by this fact.

Exactly, i dont think dish had forseen any such changes by the government.. however for a customer its gonna be a small difference..