Sops likely for film industry in Budget

In a pre-budget presentation before Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni raised issues dogging the film industry such as tackling piracy and digitisation and archive. “I told the Finance minister that Bollywood is aiming to stay on a par with Hollywood for which it needs to be supported,” Soni said.

She said her ministry would take up the idea of setting up a special cell at the PMO for promoting Indian films, which the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said to have promised during his meeting with producer Mukesh Bhatt. 

Asked about speculations that restrictions may be imposed on the electronic media in the light of the strong reaction to the coverage of the Mumbai terror attack, Soni said the government hopes that any restriction on the sector must be from within. She said her ministry is putting together a mechanism to assist the media in such situations.

DH News Service