Film industry loses Rs 4,000 cr to piracy

The 14,000 crore (Rs 140 billion) Indian film industry lost a whopping Rs 3,000-4,000 crore (Rs 30-40 billion) in the last fiscal to rampant video and music piracy, a top production house official said.

"The film industry incurred a revenue loss of Rs 4,000 crore last year due to video piracy," Hiren Gada, entertainment director, Shemaroo told PTI.

Gada said the video and music piracy market currently is estimated at around Rs 1,000-crore and is growing at an alarming rate.

On the arrest of one of his employees by the Mumbai Crime Branch recently in this regard, Gada said though an employee was arrested by the police in connection with alleged piracy of the film 'What's Your Rashee', the company had nothing to do with the incident.

"We strongly condemn such illegal activities and have our own anti-piracy team in place. We have strong ethics and the person's service has been terminated," he added.