Indian media, entertainment can be $100 bn industry: CII

Indian media and entertainment industry has the potential to log $100 billion (Rs.650,000 crore) turn over by 2025 provided it gets adequate infrastructure and government support, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said on Sunday.

"Indian media and entertainment industry has the potential to reach $100 billion by 2025," the CII said on the eve of its two-day Big Picture Summit beginning here on Monday.

"This would imply growth to Rs.210,000-250,000 crore by 2020. Such robust growth can come only on the back of enabling infrastructure and the support of the government and the industry itself," a CII and Boston Consulting Group vision paper prepared for the summit said.

"With a growth potential of 13-16 percent year-on-year it has the potential to emerge as one of the largest employment providers, contributing significantly to the gross domestic product," said the paper titled Vision 2020 Document on Media and Entertainment Sector.

The current size of the industry is estimated at about Rs.115,000 crore.

Digital media advertising in 2014 grew at a staggering 44.5 percent in 2014 over the previous year.

"The next decade will see a consumption explosion with the rapid growth of digital media. India already has 250-300 million digital screens which include smart phones, tablets, laptops and PCs," said CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee.

"This is more than the number of TV and film screens put together. This number is projected to multiply to 600 million screens by 2020, implying that every second Indian will have a personal media consumption device. The impact of this will be massive," he added.

For the films sector, however, 2014 presented a mixed picture, with a handful of box-office records, while several more were unable to attract audiences. Thus, overall profitability was impacted.

Actor-producer Ajay Devgn and veteran actress Sharmila Tagore are among those likely to participate in the summit during October 19-20.

The report says the next decade could also provide India the opportunity to emerge as a global media and entertainment hub.

"Unlike mature Western markets, digital media could expand the overall market size by tapping into latent demand and driving new media consumption rather than merely replacing other, more traditional platforms," Kanchan Samtani, partner at Boston Consulting Group said.