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New forum projects big scene: India as entertainment superpower

The Indian entertainment industry has a huge untapped export potential and could become the highest foreign exchange earner for the country if properly developed, according to the Export Promotion Forum for Films.

In the first meeting of the forum, set up by the information and broadcasting ministry, members highlighted the need to project India as an entertainment superpower all over the world, specially in light of the wide popularity of Indian films, music and television programmes.

Although India was second to none in the wealth of entertainment software produced, it had so far not gained international recognition as a major player mainly due to the fact that the entertainment industry was not accorded the status, recognition, incentives and facilities given to certain other sectors like computer software industry, the members said.

Chairing the meeting, held in Bombay, information and broadcasting secretary P G Mankad stressed the need for a well coordinated and aggressive marketing of Indian entertainment software through all possible channels, including the Internet.

At the same time, there should be a backward integration involving product development and infrastructure development and the creation of an environment conducive to exports on a global scale.

The forum set up industry-specific sub-groups on fiscal issues, short-term strategic and comprehensive database.

The meeting was attended by eminent industry persons like Alyque Padamsee, Amit Khanna, Ronnie Screwala, S S Jain, V J Lazarus, Tarjani Vakil, Kunal Dasgupta, S K Pasari, K G Dossani and Lalit Modi.

The forum was set up with the aim of promoting export of Indian films, music and TV software and identifying potential export markets, publicising and building up goodwill for the Indian entertainment industry.

UNI

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