Apurva Chandra inaugurates 'Media and Entertainment Week' at 'Dubai Expo'

Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Apurva Chandra, on March 18, inaugurated 'Media and Entertainment Week' at India Pavillion at the 'Dubai Expo' in presence of Bollywood actor R Madhavan.

Apurva Chandra is leading a delegation of the Ministry comprising Mayank Agarwal, Director General, 'Doordarshan'; Vikram Sahay, Joint Secretary, Minister of I&B and Ravinder Bhakar, CEO, 'Central Board of Film Certification' and Managing Director, 'National Film Development Corporation of India'.

The Secretary had a meeting with Ajay Sethi, Chairman of 'Channel 2 Group Corporation'. Sethi apprised Chandra of his company's vision of starting a live radio channel in India dedicated to sports.

Ajay Sethi said, "The current broadcasting of live cricket in India on radio lacks quality and content and there is a delay of around 11 seconds as well."

The company has collaborated with stars including Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar. He added that the company is ready to invest in infrastructure, marketing and content and was seeking support in terms of the channel from the Government of India. Currently, they are in a 60:40 revenue sharing model with 'Prasar Bharati' but are not producing content.

Sethi informed the Secretary that his company operates FM channels in Dubai; a TV channel in Kenya, 'Media City'; cricket teams in the Caribbean and South Africa and other key activities. The company owns ICC global cricket radio rights. The Secretary assured all support from the Ministry to take this venture further.

In a round table discussion organised at the India Pavilion on the topic of 'Collaborating for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics' (AVGC) content creation with India, Apurva Chandra highlighted the opportunities in the AVGC sector in India. He also added that 'the Indian Media and Entertainment industry is one of the fastest-growing and the most visible in the world. The Indian M&E industry is valued at 28 billion dollars and is projected to reach 100 billion dollars by 2030 growing at a cumulative growth rate of 12 percent. India has talent and creative skill required in the industry."

The Secretary mentioned that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will set up an AVGC task force by the end of March 2022 to formulate the AVGC policy to further facilitate the companies in the sector.

R Madhavan applauded the Government of India for their attention towards the AVGC sector and emphasised the talent of Indians and its growth potential.

Ravinder Bhakar highlighted the importance of skilling and creating a talent pool that will benefit the Indian M&E industry in the long run.

The round table saw a vast array of inputs from industry leaders from India, Dubai and other countries agreeing that India offers vast opportunities for outsourcing in the AVGC sector while also voicing the need for deeper collaboration between the two countries to foster stronger collaborations between the private sectors of India and Middle Eastern countries.

In the coming fortnight, the Ministry of I&B will participate in various events at the pavilion. The Ministry will also formalise an MoU with UAE for a mutually beneficial collaboration. The discussion will continue till the next few months and MoU is expected to be signed in six to eight months.

The upcoming Indian movie 'RRR' was launched globally in the presence of Secretary, director SS Rajamouli and actors Ram Charan and N T Rama Rao Jr. The launch was done in presence of the global media houses and various key delegates from India and UAE.