Commonwealth Games panel gets tax breaks

Commonwealth Games 2010, to be hosted by Delhi, has got another booster dose from the Central Government.

The Finance Ministry has given tax exemption to the organising committee on certain estimated income of Rs 1,450 crore from the international sporting event.

The categories
A major portion of the tax give-away has been for sponsorship receipts, which are estimated to be Rs 960 crore.

Tax exemption will also be available on income from international broadcasting to the tune of Rs 182 crore. The other receipts that have been tax exempt are domestic broadcasting (Rs 66 crore), ticketing (Rs 100 crore), licensed merchandise (Rs 50 crore) and donations (Rs 100 crore).

A Central Board of Direct Taxes spokesman confirmed the Income-Tax department's move to provide tax exemption to the Organising Committee Commonwealth Games.

The income-tax exemption comes on the heels of the Centre's move to provide a Rs 350-crore loan to the committee through the first batch of supplementary demand for grants for 2009-10.

The Centre has also provided a grant of Rs 50 crore for preparation of team for commonwealth games and Rs 12 crore for creation of venue for the international sporting event.