A total of Rs. 70,46,51,57,380 FDI has come into India’s four DTH service providers, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said Tuesday.

 Thakur gave this information in Lok Sabha (Lower House) on a query from a fellow parliamentarian on the details of the FDI inflows into various TV services providers, including DTH operators.

According to the government data, the FDI amounts were as below:

# Dish TV India Ltd.: Rs. 21,70,00,00,000 (including Videocon D2H that Dish TV bought a few years back).

# Tata Sky Ltd.: Rs. 18,69,89,76,295.

# Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd.: Rs. 8,41,55,81,085.

# Bharati Telemedia Ltd.: Rs. 21,65,06,00,000.

However, the Minister didn’t specify the time period of the FDI inflow into these companies.

As per present policy, 100 percent FDI under automatic route is allowed in DTH companies under the broadcasting carriage service sector. However, infusion of fresh foreign investment, beyond 49 percent in a company not seeking license/permission from sector Ministry, resulting in change in the ownership pattern or transfer of stake by existing investor to new foreign investor, will require government approval.

Meanwhile, to give a perspective, an independent research agency Statista Research Department said as of December 2020, India saw an inflow of around US$ 940 million from foreign direct investments into its information and broadcasting sector for the financial year 2021. Fiscal year 2017 saw the highest FDI inflow in the sector valued at $1.52 billion.

The main reason for this spike in fiscal year 2017 was due to two major mergers and acquisition deals of PVR Cinemas Ltd. and Dish TV, respectively. Despite the impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the FDI-inflow had been stable in the financial year 2020 and 2021, the agency said on its website.

According to an EY report, the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) sector stood at Rs. 1.38 trillion (US$ 18 billion) in 2020 and is estimated at Rs. 1.79 trillion (US$ 24 billion) in 2021. Further, it is projected to grow to Rs. 2.23 trillion (US$ 29 billion) by 2023, due to acceleration of digital adoption among users across geographies.

The market is projected to increase at a CAGR of 17 percent between 2020 and 2023. In FY20, digital and online added revenue stood at Rs. 26 billion in the M&E sector and their contribution to the sector increased to 23 percent in 2020 from 16 percent in 2019.

(Photo courtesy Sanjay Sharma/Indiapix Network)