Hollywood-Bollywood Initiative (Anti-Piracy)
The widespread success of movies with crossover appeal such as "Monsoon Wedding" has driven a spate of film co-production and film development deals and cross-border distribution agreements between India and the United States. The natural synergies between Bollywood (the world's largest film industry by volume), and Hollywood (the world's largest film industry by revenue) are finally being realized.
However, increasing levels of counterfeiting and piracy threaten these partnerships. It's been estimated that the Indian entertainment industry is losing some 80% of its revenue to counterfeiting and piracy, and this directly threatens the very viability and existence of these industries. The true cost to the Indian economy is undoubtedly much greater than that. For every rupee or dollar lost there is less revenue to hire people in the Indian industry, fewer Indians paid to distribute films, records, and entertainment software, and money lost by a whole host of Indian industries that support entertainment.
Therefore, the US-India Business Council has launched the "Bollywood-Hollywood Initiative" with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The initiative includes a groundbreaking survey financed by USIBC to determine the true cost of piracy and counterfeiting to the Indian entertainment industry; a push to ensure India's adoption of Optical Disc Legislation to combat piracy; a campaign to raise public awareness of the detrimental affects of piracy to India; and a drive to US-India governmental cooperation in combating international, cross-border piracy - particularly of Indian films in the US and other countries as well as US films in India.
