Smart Living

Budget 2019: Govt announces measures to make shooting films easier, fight privacy

Updated : February 01, 2019 01:31 PM IST

In a bid to fight movie piracy, Goyal said that anti-camcorder provisions would be introduced soon.

Acknowledging his love for Bollywood, interim finance minister Piyush Goyal announced measures to boost Indian filmmaking and fight piracy in the interim budget.

"Hum sabko bollywood ka shauk hai (We are all fond of Bollywood)," said Goyal, while announcing that single window clearance for ease of shooting films, which was earlier only available to foreign film makers, will now be available for Indian film makers as well. In a bid to fight movie piracy, Goyal said that anti-camcorder provisions would be introduced soon.

Politician-turned-actor Paresh Rawal was seen welcoming the move, as MPs including actor Kirron Kher gave a round of applause.

According to a 2018 report by global solution provider in digital platform security and media and entertainment, Irdeto, India’s $1.5 trillion entertainment sector loses $2.8 billion of its annual revenue due to piracy. The report identified India as among the top 5 countries for peer-to-peer (P2P downloads) in the world.

In his speech, Goyal also reiterated the government’s decision to slash GST rates on movie tickets from 28% to 18%.

Share prices of media entertainment companies including PVR Cinemas, Balaji Telefilms and Mukta Arts saw a spike in trade after Goyal’s announcements.