India 's film industry is estimated to more than double in value to $4.05bn (Rs175bn) by 2011, compared to the $1.96bn (Rs84.5bn) it was worth in 2006, according to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report presented at the FICCI-Frames conference in Mumbai today.

Domestic box office, which was worth $1.48bn (Rs64bn) in 2006, is projected to grow to $2.76bn (Rs119bn) by 2011, while home video revenues will grow from $151m (Rs6.5bn) to $579m (Rs25bn).

Factors contributing to growth include corporatisation of the Indian film industry, the multiplex boom and growth of digital cinema, improved models for financing films and increased marketing spends.

Over the past two years, an increasing number of Indian film and entertainment companies have been launching IPOs or attracting private equity, a trend that is expected to continue in the next five years. In 2006, production house Percept Picture Company received funding from Indian media giant Bennett & Coleman while e-cinema provider UFO Moviez received funding from private equity player 3i.

Meanwhile the number of multiplex screens owned by the five major exhibitors - PVR, Inox, Cinemax, Shringar and Adlabs - is expected to increase from the current 193 to around 907 in the next five years.

The report also predicted that the overseas market for Indian films, which is currently worth $162m (Rs7bn), will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18% which is higher than the CAGR of the domestic box office at 16%.

Meanwhile, the three-day FICCI-Frames conference (March 26-28) got underway today with a packed schedule of seminars devoted to film, TV and digital entertainment. Italy is the partner country of the conference and has brought a high-powered delegation headed by Italian Minister of Communications, Paolo Gentiloni, and also including actor Giancarlo Giannini who addressed delegates at the opening session this morning.

At a co-production seminar, panellists including Hyperion Pictures' Tom Wilhite, and ANICA president Riccardo Tozzi discussed shooting in India and the country's upcoming co-production treaties. At a marketing seminar, delegates talked about emerging methods of film marketing in India including online and mobile campaigns.

A lively session on digital cinema saw D-cinema advocates, from Dolby Laboratories and DLP Cinema Products, square off against UFO Moviez vice chairman Raaja Kanwar.

Kanwar stated that tests have proved that the human eye cannot distinguish between 1.3k and 2k digital cinema, let alone between 2k and 4k, which is the standard insisted upon by the US studios' DCI group.

'By imposing DCI standards in non-Hollywood markets, the US studios are only harming themselves,' Kanwar said.

Tomorrow's programme includes seminars on User Generated Content, Regional Cinema, Licensing for Success, Remakes and Sequels, and Defending Your Intellectual Property.

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