Entertainment sector took $4bn hit due to piracy

A 2007 study by the US-India Business Council (USIBC) and Ernst & Young has revealed that the Indian media and entertainment industry as a whole suffered losses to the tune of $4 billion (approximately Rs 20,000 crore) due to piracy.The film industry suffered losses estimated at $959 million, translating into loss of jobs. “With the financial crisis looming over India, piracy will continue to affect the industry in terms of financial losses and of course, loss of jobs,’’ said Rajiv P Dalal, director of Motion Picture Association International.When top government officials and business leaders met at a conference on counterfeiting and piracy organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Wednesday, most agreed that to an extent, the menace was compounding the problem when there were hard times to tackle. Even as heads of companies across the globe are resorting to desperate cost-cutting measures, piracy continues to be one of the major deterrents to their business, the speakers said. In the face of the global economic downturn, piracy and counterfeiting are the prime factors why companies are being forced to cut costs.“Due to the global meltdown, the number of cars being sold might have come down. In such a scenario, an automotive company will bank on selling genuine spare parts. However when customers opt for counterfeit products, it directly hits the sales,’’ said Anubhav Jain, brand protection manager, South Asia, Mercedes-Benz India. Almost everyone present at the conference agreed that despite the fact that India has some of the best laws pertaining to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), none of them were being implemented appropriately. Dalal, like others at the conference, said a common body or taskforce should look after the enforcement of IPR protection. “In India, film-makers are individually protecting their titles, unlike in the US where they have a common body addressing these issues. Fragmented action will not work as effectively,’’ he added.But, Anurag Kashyap, associate director, KPMG, an accounting and consulting firm, said, “There is no relation between the global meltdown and piracy and counterfeiting. Both of them are unrelated and hence should be looked at and addressed individually.’’