The ad business, like every other business, is deeply affected by the Covid-19 lockdown.

Income and cash flow have been in serious stress in the last month and the Advertising Agencies Association of India has put out a perturbed note saying unless there is some intervention, many businesses will either file for bankruptcy or will have to undersize considerably.

“INS and IBF, the media associations representing the interest of Print and TV respectively, have been kind enough to permit AAAI members to pay monies they have collected from their clients and not insist on what is due to them on the due dates. But the continuity of the Agencies business cannot be for long without the help of the Government of India,” says the statement. “We want principally money that is owed to us by way of IT & GST refunds, and dues from Government & PSUs for our advertising bills to be settled immediately. We have also said that any payment made to us should not suffer any TDS deduction going forward, since there is unlikely to be any significant profit for the year. Further we have sought a direction to banks and our debtors that they provide the much needed cashflow to pay salaries and meet other essential expenses, etc,” said Ashish Bhasin, President-AAAI.

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