Media and entertainment industry stakeholders are taking an active lead in engaging the government on ways to curb piracy, with the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) convening a roundtable with senior Ministry of Information and Broadcasting officials and representatives of digital content and music platforms.

According to IAMAI, the roundtable attended by members of its Digital Committee — held earlier this week and themed ‘Securing India’s Digital Content Ecosystem: A Roundtable on Piracy’ — highlighted that piracy remains a key challenge for India’s growing digital content ecosystem.

Held under the Chatham House Rule, an IAMAI LinkedIn post yesterday stated the discussion focused on the changing nature of digital piracy, the challenges faced by the industry and possible measures to address them.

How the industry and the government can collaborate on creating an ecosystem that blunts content piracy in India and from the country formed the basis of discussions.

A Media Partners Asia report released last year at the inaugural World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit (WAVES) in Mumbai, highlighted that 90 million users in India engaged in video piracy in 2024 causing losses of $1.2 billion. This number, MPA stressed, could surge without strong intervention.

MPA ED Vivek Couto, participating in a panel discussion at WAVES 2025 on content piracy, highlighted the economic toll of piracy by stating that  online piracy was projected to cost the M&E industry over 10 percent in lost revenue between 2025 and 2029 — which, in effect, also meant revenue losses to the government in taxes.

He had emphasized the potential for growth, noting that effective anti-piracy measures could increase legal video service users by 25 percent, unlocking a $0.5 billion boost in content investment, raising the total value to $3.8 billion by 2029.

Keeping in mind these perspectives, the IAMAI meeting brought together senior officials from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting along with participants from digital content and music platforms as MIB, it is reliably learnt, is keen to put together an anti-piracy initiative in some form.

IAMAI said the engagement was aimed at an open discussion on the issues confronting the digital entertainment ecosystem and possible ways to tackle piracy.

“We thank the Ministry officials and industry participants for an open and constructive discussion,” IAMAI said in its post.

The roundtable gains importance as industry stakeholders continue to engage with policymakers on securing India’s digital content ecosystem and addressing piracy-related challenges, which, at the moment, are not addressed at institutional levels, with individual media companies taking actions against pirates through temporary legal recourse.

Content piracy is not unique to India, but is a global phenomenon, including APAC markets.

Earlier this year, the Asia Video Industry Association’s Coalition Against Piracy, in partnership with YouGov, released the findings of its 2026 consumer survey examining video piracy across eight Asia-Pacific markets (excluding India).

The survey found that 44 percent of consumers continue to access pirated content, down from 46 percent in 2025. Singapore led the way with the lowest incidence of piracy at 25 percent, down from 38 percent in 2025. Piracy rates, however, remain particularly prevalent in Vietnam (56 percent), Indonesia (51 percent), Malaysia (49% percent and the Philippines (48 percent).

(Image courtesy IAMAI LinkedIn account)