I&B Ministry
FDI proposals in print, broadcasting to be cleared by MIB; satellites by DoS
MUMBAI: 5 June, 2017. That’s the date the Indian government announced that all foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals relating to the print and broadcast sector will be approved by the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB).
Approvals for proposals relating to satellite and telecom FDI investment have been put under the ambit of the department of space and department of telecom, ministry of communications, respectively.
This was announced by the government through a circular issued on the foreign investment promotions board (FIPB) website by ministry of finance joint secretary Saurabh Garg. The circular has pointed out that the following ministries will provide approval for foreign capital inflow proposals:
*Ministry of mines (mining), department of defence production,
*ministry of defence (defence),
*ministry of homes affairs (FDI in small arms manufacturing),
* ministry of civil aviation (aviation),
*ministry of home affairs (private security agencies),
*department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), ministry of commerce & industry (trading – single and multi brand and food products retail trading),
*department of financial services, ministry of finance (banking – both public and private);
*department of economic affairs (DEA), ministry of finance (financial services in areas where there is no regulator or more than one or ambiguity about the regulator)
* department of pharmaceuticals, ministry of chemicals & fertilizers (pharamceuticals)
The circular has also stated that NRI FDI proposals or FDI proposals for export oriented units will continue to come under the ambit of the DIPP and will be processed by it. The DIPP will also have the responsibility to identify the right ministry if there is a doubt about who should deal with an FDI application. Applications for FDI into core investment companies or into Indian investment companies which will solely invest in Indian companies will need the DEA approval no matter which sector the investment is being made, says the circular.
Investors will continue making their FDI applications through the FIPB portal, the oversight of which is being transferred to the DIPP from the DEA by next month.
The government has stated that the DIPP will lay down a standard operating procedure (SOP) in consultation with each department/ministry. It has stated that the SOP could involve the inter-ministerial committee (IMC) where necessary and it has to have a consistency of treatment and uniformity of approach towards all sectors. It has also ordered that departments and administrative ministries will need to get the approval of the minister in charge/cabinet committee on economic affairs on each FDI application as per the FDI policy.
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I&B Ministry
India turns up the heat on piracy, orders Telegram to axe 3,142 channels and blocks 800 websites
New legal teeth, nodal officers and notices to intermediaries signal that the government is done playing nice with copyright thieves
NEW DELHI: India’s war on film piracy just got significantly more aggressive. The government has ordered Telegram to remove 3,142 channels distributing pirated content, blocked access to around 800 websites through internet service providers, and put the full weight of freshly sharpened legislation behind the crackdown. The message from New Delhi is unambiguous: the free ride for copyright thieves is over.
Minister of state for information and broadcasting L. Murugan spelled out the legal architecture to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023, he said, now contains specific provisions designed to make piracy a genuinely painful proposition. Sections 6AA and 6AB prohibit unauthorised recording and transmission of films, with violations attracting a minimum of three months’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3 lakh. At the upper end, offenders face three years behind bars and fines of up to 5 per cent of a film’s audited gross production cost — a figure that, for a big-budget production, could run into crores.
The legislation also gives the government powers to act against intermediaries hosting infringing content, by notifying them under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and compelling takedowns and blocking actions. Under Section 79(3)(b), intermediaries are legally required to remove or disable access to unlawful content upon receiving government notice or court orders. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, add a further layer of obligation, requiring platforms to ensure their services are not used to host or distribute content that violates copyright or proprietary rights.
To put enforcement into practice, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has established a dedicated institutional mechanism, complete with nodal officers to receive complaints. Copyright holders, authorised representatives or individuals can report piracy through a prescribed format, after which the government issues notices to intermediaries to disable access to infringing links.
The most headline-grabbing action came on 11 March 2026, when Telegram was formally notified under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act and directed to remove and disable 3,142 channels found to be distributing unauthorised content belonging to OTT platforms, content owners and producers. The complaints that triggered the action came from OTT platforms including JioCinema and Amazon Prime Video, which alleged that copyrighted films, web series and other material were being shared on the platform on a massive scale. Telegram’s architecture, with its large file-sharing limits and capacity for user anonymity, has made it a favoured vehicle for exactly this kind of large-scale piracy.
The Telegram action sits within a broader pattern of escalating enforcement. Just days before the Lok Sabha statement, the ministry banned five OTT platforms for streaming obscene content: MoodXVIP, Koyal Playpro, Digi Movieplex, Feel and Jugnu. In July 2025, the Centre ordered the blocking of 25 OTT platforms accused of streaming obscene, vulgar or pornographic material, a list that included ALTT, ULLU, Big Shots App, Desiflix, Boomex, Navarasa Lite, Gulab App, Kangan App, Bull App, Jalva App, ShowHit, Wow Entertainment, Look Entertainment, Hitprime, Feneo, ShowX, Sol Talkies, Adda TV, HotX VIP, Hulchul App, MoodX, NeonX VIP, Fugi, Mojflix and Triflicks.
Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, provides the regulatory hook for those actions, prohibiting platforms from hosting content that is obscene, pornographic, invasive of privacy, gender-harassing, racially or ethnically objectionable, or that promotes hatred and violence.
For an industry that loses billions of rupees annually to piracy, the direction of travel is welcome. The question, as always, is not whether the laws exist, but whether the enforcement machinery can keep pace with the ingenuity of those determined to circumvent it. Three thousand channels down, and the pirates are already busy opening three thousand more.
