I&B Ministry
Government plans to increase funds for M&E industry: CII
MUMBAI: Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore assured the media and entertainment (M&E) industry that the government policies would be supportive and calibrated to enhance the modernisation and monetisation of the sector.
Addressing the fourth edition of the CII Big Picture Summit 2015 in New Delhi, Rathore said, “In phase II of the auction of the frequencies for the radio, there was no provision for broadcasting news. This was changed during the phase III auction, when private radio was allowed to broadcast the news of the All India Radio (AIR) for a specified time.”
Rathore mentioned that a lot of initiatives were being taken by the government to support the M&E industry in the country, such as channelising more advertisements to the digital media like YouTube, outsourcing some of the creative works of Doordarshan and AIR to the industry. More such steps would be taken in due course.
In this regard, plans are underway to revamp the terrestrial broadcast of DD to couple it with internet and DTH so that there would be opportunities for making local programs based on events happening in smaller towns and rural areas. This would also give a boost to creation of contents, which have local flavour and relevance.
Acknowledging the industry demand that the monetisation of the M&E segment had not kept pace with the requirements, Rathore disclosed that the government had proposed to set up a university to develop soft skills needed for the industry.
This university would specialise in providing skills to students in areas like gaming, animation and other avenues of creative pursuits relevant to the industry. He wanted industry to take a lead in this endeavour and create centers of excellence, which would enable the M&E industry to reach $100 billion by 2025. He also said that industry support was imperative to improve the content and appeal of the programs and for training media professionals.
Responding to a suggestion made by the industry to bring down high incidence of tax levied on the M&E industry, the Minister said that the Good and Services Tax (GST), which the Government wanted to enact would have subsumed various taxes incidental on the industry. He hoped that the bill would be passed soon in the interest of the nation.
Rathore observed that the Government was keen to create a single window clearance for shooting films in India, which could enhance the monetisation and profitability of the industry. He wanted CII to come out with a plan for creating a dynamic eco system for the film industry to flourish. At the same time, he said that inadequate number of cinema halls in India as compared to countries like the US and China could be more to do with real estate prices.
Ministry of I&B special secretary J S Mathur said, “The process of digitisation in the M&E sector was at a higher pace and would show results in the coming years. He was of the opinion that smart phones, which could carry large quantum of data including films, news bulletins etc. would redefine the digital space in India.”
He also mentioned that the Government was in the process of finalising the draft of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), which would enable more and more people to invest in India in various segments like content creation, production, animation, and gaming.
Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar opined that a consortium approach should be followed by the industry and the Government to promote the convergence in the M&E industry to realise its potentials. He suggested that a shared approach should be there among the players to make use of the vast infrastructure of the government through innovative schemes that would put to use smart phones as carriers of innovative contents.
CII National Committee on Media and Entertainment and Group CEO, Viacom 18 Group CEO and CII National Committee on Media and Entertainment chairman Sudhanshu Vats pitched for easing of doing business and greater application of convergence of technology to tap the potentials of the industry. Monetisation of the industry can be enhanced through proper government support to the industry.
Narrating the problems being faced by the M&E sector, Star India COO Sanjay Gupta said that bandwidth problems, high cost, high taxes etc were adversely affecting the growth of M&E industry. He wanted a supportive policy regime to help the industry reach $100 billion mark by 2025.
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.
