In 2007, the E&M industry grew by 17 per cent. The industry reached an estimated size of Rs 51,300 crore, up from Rs 43,800 crore in 2006. In the past four years, the industry has recorded a cumulative growth of 19 per cent on an overall basis, according to the Ficci- PwC report on Indian E&M Industry 2008.

While the television industry recorded a growth of 18 per cent in 2007, the print media industry grew by 16 per cent in the year. The television industry is projected to grow by 22 per cent over the next five years and reach a size of Rs 60,000 crore by 2012. The print media industry is projected to grow by 14 per cent over the next five years to Rs 28,100 crore in 2012.

Last year was another boom year for the advertising industry as it saw a growth of 22 per cent. The report projected the advertising industry to grow by 18 per cent by 2012.

Though industry stalwarts applaud the growth achieved in the past, they also showed concern over the issues of piracy and lack of trained human capital in the industry. I&B Ministry secretary Asha Swarup emphasisd on the need for development of content for TV viewers, especially for children. “Currently, TV content is focused on just a small section of the viewers,” she said.

Ficci president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the entertainment industry had reached a point of critical mass from the early goals of nine years ago. “I believe that this industry is poised to achieve the scale and size required to be global in terms of its value and presence,” he said. The challenge for the E&M industry over the next few years, he added, was to scale up and becoming globally relevant.

“Scaling up for entrepreneurial companies requires an approach different from the proprietary approach to running companies. I look forward to the day when we have big names in the E&M industry like we have Infosys and TCS in infotech and software services, Reliance and Airtel in telecom services,” he added.

On the question of a global economic slowdown affecting the Indian E&M industry, he said, “Media sector slowdown is related to the consumption sector slowdown. As long as the economy is growing and people want to spend on media products, I do not see any slowdown happening.”