Meeting of State Information and Broadcasting Ministers
November 7, 2001, New Delhi.

Welcome Address and Opening Remarks by Shri R S Lodha, President-elect, FICCI

Respected Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Hon'ble Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting
Shri Pawan Chopra, Secretary, Ministry of I&B
Smt. Anjuly Chib Duggal & Shri Rakesh Mohan, Joint Secretaries, Ministry of I&B,
I&B Ministers and senior representatives of the State Governments

Friends,

It gives me great pleasure in welcoming you all to this historic meeting of the State I&B Ministers. We are particularly grateful to our Hon'ble Minister Smt. Sushma Swaraj under whose inspiration and guidance today's programme has been convened. We have received the fullest support and cooperation from the Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and also from the State Information & Broadcasting Ministries who have all so enthusiastically responded to our invitation. Our sincere thanks and appreciation to all of them. We are also grateful to our friends from the industry and the media who have turned up in such large numbers.

Friends, this is for the first time that an interface is taking place between the industry and the State Governments and with the blessing of all of you, we hope to make this into an annual event.

The idea for organising this meeting originated from FICCI's mega Convention on the Entertainment Industry - FRAMES 2001 held in March, 2001. One of the major recommendations of FRAMES was to have a closer look and focus on the various rules and regulations of the State Governments. In fact, I distinctly remember, the Hon'ble Minister Mrs Sushma Swaraj urging the industry to prepare a Study which demonstrates why a rationalisation of the entertainment tax is necessary. No doubt, the major recommendations of today's meeting will be followed up diligently by FICCI and the message will be carried for our next Convention FRAMES 2002.

The entertainment industry of India is growing at a fast pace and its potential is increasingly getting recognised. While our Hon'ble Minister has been making all efforts to bring the entertainment industry at par with the IT sector, from FICCI we have been relentlessly complementing her initiatives. However, for the policies to actually fructify, we need to have active involvement of the State Governments also. For it is at the State levels that the actual implementation takes place. It is with this thought, we have organised today's meeting. The large turnout of the State Governments only confirms our belief that they too are now willing partners in the progress of the entertainment industry.

The FICCI Arthur Andersen Report shows that the entertainment tax in India varies from 21 per cent to a high of 125 per cent across various States of India with the average rate of tax being 60 per cent. Clearly such high rates of taxation are unsustainable. A rationalisation of entertainment tax across States is therefore of utmost importance for the rapid growth of the entertainment industry. In the Asian region the entertainment tax rate is 0.0 per cent in Hong Kong, 3 per cent in Japan and Singapore, 7 per cent in Thailand, 7.6 per cent in Taiwan.

The problem of piracy and non-implementation of copyright laws is eroding the profitability of the entertainment business. FICCI congratulates the Government for amending the Cable Act to check the menace of piracy. Again the initiative here lies with the State Government to take the necessary action against the offenders. Our experts from the industry will give detailed presentations on these issues for the consideration of our honoured guests from the State Governments.

I am happy to inform you on the two initiatives of FICCI which will have a significant bearing on the performance of the entertainment industry. FICCI along with Arthur Andersen will rank the States in terms of their investor friendliness for the entertainment industry and the findings of this study will be published along with the next FICCI Arthur Andersen Report on Entertainment Industry. This report will be released at our next year's Convention - FRAMES 2002. We hope that this will induce the State Governments to make their respective States more investor friendly for the entertainment industry.

We are also happy to inform you that in collaboration with WIPO, FICCI will set up a copyright register, which will serve as a databank for the entertainment industry. We hope that the dispute arising out of copyright matters will be substantially mitigated by this effort and it will also be a big step towards addressing the problem of piracy. I will request Mr Amit Khanna, Co-Chairman of FICCI Entertainment Committee to highlight the salient features of this copyright register later on.

Friends, before I close, I would like to highlight an important development concerning the entertainment industry. Live entertainment and event management has been one of the fastest growing segment of the entertainment industry. This segment has grown without any supportive measures and in somewhat unstructured manner. The FICCI Arthur Andersen Report strongly recommends the establishment of an industry forum which will assist the industry players in tackling their problems collectively and taking growth enabling measures. I am delighted to inform you that under the aegis of FICCI, the Event Management Association of India (EMAI) will be formally launched in the presence of the Hon'ble Minister, Mrs Sushma Swaraj. I am informed that the multiplex owners have also expressed a desire to have an industry association. FICCI is delighted to be a part of this endeavour and will provide all necessary support and assistance for the formation of the Multiplex Owners Association of India.

It is now my pleasure to request Mr Lalit Modi, Chairman, FICCI Entertainment Committee to present the theme of today's meeting.

Thank you.