India's film industry grew by 13% in 2007 to around $2.7bn, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) unveiled at Frames today, while the overall media and entertainment sector grew by 17% to $12.6bn.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, president of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry), set the industry a challenge to 'scale up and become globally relevant' - relevant to capital markets and investors, and relevant to producers and consumers of entertainment around the world.
'I look forward to the day where, just like we have names like Infosys and TCS in InfoTech and software services, and Reliance and Airtel in telecom services, we can also have entertainment industry names and brands that are globally relevant,' Chandrasekhar said.
At the same session, industry stalwart Yash Chopra encouraged the Indian entertainment industry to expand its market in Asia - particularly inChina and Japan - and called for action against films being banned in certain parts of India after passing national censorship. Local productions Jodha Akbar and Aaa Jaa Nach Le both recently faced this problem.
Guest of honour Viviane Reding, EC commissioner for information society and media, talked about the importance of new legislation in the face of technological changes that are impacting the entertainment industry.
Over 2,500 Indian and foreign delegates from 17 countries are attending the three-day conference. International guests include Toronto fest co-director Cameron Bailey, German executive producer Norbert Sauer and Jaman.com founder Gaurav Dhillon.
Switzerland, a popular location for Bollywood movies, is this year's partner country.
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