Cannes: Shooting of foreign films in India get a boost, Union I&B Minister announces major sops

This year’s Cannes Film Festival is not just about showcasing the best of cinema from across the globe. But it is proving to be favouring India’s cinematic values, beliefs and experiences by promoting, preserving and incentivising the Indian film industry. On 18th May 2022, Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur inaugurated the ‘India Pavilion at Cannes Film Market ‘Marche du Film.’

Apart from this, to make India a favourite destination for foreign film markers, the Minister also unveiled two schemes to incentivise the shooting of foreign films and foreign co-productions with India.

Schemes extended to unleash the potential of the Entertainment Sector

The inaugural event of the Indian Pavillion witnessed the launch of two schemes:

Incentive Scheme for Audio-Visual Co-production: Union Minister Anurag Thakur informed that for official co-productions, international film production companies can claim a reimbursement of up to 30% on Qualifying Expenditure in India subject to a maximum of INR 2 crore. Foreign films shooting in India can claim an additional 5% bonus up to a maximum of INR 50 lakhs (USD 65,000) as additional reimbursement would be granted for employing 15% or more manpower in India.

The eligibility criteria state that the project must have been granted a “Co-Production” status by the Ministry of I&B and the participating country(ies) under one of India’s official bi-lateral co-production treaties on Audio-Visual Co-Production.

Incentive Scheme Shooting of foreign films in India: Under this, an additional 5% bonus up to a maximum of INR 50 lakhs (USD 65,000) can be claimed, as additional reimbursement and would be granted for employing 15% or more manpower in India.

To avail of this scheme International productions that have been granted shooting permission by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Ministry of External Affairs (for documentaries only) after 01.04.2022 shall be eligible.

The Minister while addressing the event said, “Indian cinema is not only the story of a 6000-year-old civilisation, not only the story of 1.3 billion tales but also the story of human talent, triumph and the trajectory of New India narrated through your lens.” He further added, “We have a strong intellectual property regime, and the digital medium now complements the other more established modes of consumption and dissemination such as theatres and movies. This has brought about the democratisation of consumer choice like never before, and our government is intent on preserving this via support to creative industries”

World’s Largest Restoration Project begins in India

With a view to Preserving, Restoring and Digitising our cinema heritage, Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting – Anurag Singh Thakur, on 5th May 2022 announced that a decision has been taken for the World’s largest film restoration project under National Film Heritage Mission.

Out of the total outlay of Rs 597 crore earmarked for this mission, Rs.363 crores is exclusively put for the restoration project which is all set to commence in full swing at the National Film Archive of India (NFAI).

It is pertinent to mention that under National Film Heritage Mission, approximately 2,200 films will undergo restoration. The titles have been shortlisted by language-wise committees consisting of filmmakers, documentary filmmakers, film historians, producers etc. Apart from this, 5,900 short films, documentaries and features are underway in the restoring processes and this exercise carried out by NFAI proved to be one of the world’s biggest restoration, conservation, preservation and digitization processes.