Digital University Kerala preparing new App for movie ticket booking: Minister

State Minister for Youth Affairs and Culture, Saji Cherian, told IANS that this will help streamline a few things in the Malayalam film industry, especially related to the revenue that the Kerala government will be getting from the tickets that are booked online.

"At first we had talks with a few companies for creating an App according to our requirements, but the amounts that were quoted by the firms, were such that we, the state government just could not afford to get the project started.

"It was at that time the state-owned Digital University Kerala came up with their proposal, which we found reasonable and gave them the go ahead," said Minister Cherian.

"We have already paid the advance to the Digital University Kerala and we have been told that in six months' time, they will come out with this new App, which will benefit the Kerala government hugely by getting the correct taxes that the state should receive through the sale of movie tickets online," added Minister Cherian.

Through this new App, Minister Cherian expects transparency in the ticket issuing system, and prevent tax evasion as the Local Self Government Department gets the entertainment tax from the tickets sales, and the Kerala Cultural Welfare Board gets the ticket cess.

At present, with the current mobile Apps offering e-ticketing services to movie buffs, there are doubts over accountability and whether the state government is able to realise its full dues.

Minister Cherian said that this idea had been in the air for a while and they were able to bring this project in the annual budget and got a due allocation which helped them to pay the advance to the Digital University Kerala.