Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday made a strong pitch for local manufacturing of equipment such as big cameras used in the film industry as part of the government’s ‘Make in India‘ initiative.

According to PTI, addressing the National Film Awards function, Vaishnaw said the Centre was also working on harmonising state cinema regulation rules as part of efforts to streamline all permissions related to the film industry.

“Friends, we have to start a new initiative. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inspired us with the Make in India initiative. The equipment that is used in the film industry, like big cameras and all, we have to make them in India,” he said.

On the state cinema regulation rules, Vaishnaw said the Centre was working on Model State Cinema Regulation Rules which will have points related to permissions required for making films.

The Minister also said there was a need to create a live concert economy with proper policy support, uniform guidelines and easy permissions.

“That will create another big wave in the ocean of creators’ economies,” Vaishnaw said.

He said Prime Minister Modi has envisioned India as the hub of global content creation.

The Minister said the country’s first International Institute of Cinema and Technology (IICT) has begun functioning at the NFDC campus in Mumbai with 17 courses already underway in collaboration with leading global partners including Meta, NVIDIA, Microsoft and Google.

“The products of our content creators are finding new markets through the Waves Bazaar which we have been hosting in countries like Australia, South Korea and Canada,” Vaishnaw said.