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Rammya Choudhury, technical manager of On-Air Systems says there is huge potential for a large spectrum of broadcast manufacturers to operate in India.

With the broadcast and production markets in India and the UAE experiencing an unprecedented boom, the two countries are seeking to build partnerships that will reap mutual benefits. Vijaya Cherian reports.

The financial turmoil worldwide may have left some coffers dry and made food and oil more expensive but it does not seem to have staved people's appetite for entertainment.

In fact, with the increasing demand for good, high quality entertainment globally, emerging markets such as India and the United Arab Emirates are seeing an unprecedented growth in their broadcast and production sectors.

Both countries are now seeking to forge new relationships to take advantage of the broadcast and production boom in their respective markets.

The UAE and India have always enjoyed good trade relations and bring a lot of complementary services to the table.

As a young country with visionary leaders at the helm, the UAE, particularly Dubai, has aggressively sought to put in place the infrastructure necessary to attract international players to the emirate.

If its Media City provided smart offices, a tax-free environment and media-friendly policies that enabled international broadcasters to set up base here, its more recent Studio City initiative is addressing the production needs that have evolved since then.

Already, the first tenants have moved into Studio City and within a couple of years, Dubai hopes it will replicate the success of Media City and evolve into a sophisticated production hub that may one day rival Hollywood. Much effort is being made by the government body to woo Indian companies to set up shop at its free zone.

Jamal Al Sharif, executive director of Dubai Studio City confirms that two new Indian companies have already registered to begin operations from the free zone. "NDTV Arabiya was registered some time ago. We now have Mahendra TV and another channel. We are talking to two more channels from India," he says.

"In the meantime, a team has just come back from India after negotiations and we intend to repeat the exercise in June with other companies there. We are in touch with a few large post-production facilities in India.

The formalities are taking a long time but we want them to know that we are here to support them. We have had trade relations with India for several years and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is keen to take it further.

Additionally, the Indian community in this country is huge so we believe that Indian companies will feel at home here," he explains.

Al Sharif also reiterates that both countries will achieve much if they work together. "Indians have the experience and the skills while we provide a tax-free environment and state-of-the-art infrastructure to operate in. There will be mutual benefits for both parties," he says.

Dubai itself has undergone a massive transformation over the last decade and today touts an ultra-modern urban skyline, shopping malls that stock most well-known international luxury brands, a ski slope, clean beaches and fantastic hotels - all at a more affordable price than Europe.

All these features have made Dubai attractive not just to businessmen and tourists but also to the Indian film industry, especially Bollywood, one of the most visible faces of India on the international arena.

Indian producers often find it easy to source costumes for their film stars from Dubai. Shooting on location and sourcing visas for crew are easily done with Dubai's Location Approval Services Department.

Additionally, with a staggering 70% of the population in the UAE being Indian, it is easy for producers to find extras and work in an environment that is very similar to their home base while at the same time, experiencing the luxury of being abroad.

Consequently, several Bollywood films including Naqaab, Partner, Race and Welcome have been shot partly in Dubai as have many South Indian movies.

Despite its song and dance tradition, the Indian film industry is gradually gaining more mileage on the world stage. According to a recent report published by Ernst & Young, the Indian film industry is the most prolific globally, producing more than 1000 films annually as opposed to the 570 that were produced by Hollywood in 2007.

More importantly, Bollywood is now moving away from the traditional, family-run way of producing films to the more brisk and professional studio model of Hollywood.

With corporatisation underway in Bollywood, we see a higher investment in production from key players such as Yash Raj, Sahara One, UTV and Reliance.

In fact, at Cannes last month, Reliance Big Entertainment announced that it would spend US $1 billion over the next 18 months building its movie businesses in India and globally.

At the event, the Indian conglomerate pulled back the curtains on a production slate of 69 Indian-sourced movies with budgets ranging from US $1 million to $40 million.

The company announced that some of the US $1 billion investment would be used to develop the company's film distribution and infrastructure on an international scale. Reliance is opening its own distribution offices on the East and West coasts of the US, Europe, the Middle East, Malaysia and Australia.

Although Bollywood is the most well marketed, it is not the only segment witnessing such accelerated growth in India. The country's animation sector, its television industry, the Direct-to-Home as well as cable markets are seeing significant growth, and interest in new media platforms is on the rise.

A Nasscom report states that the Indian animation industry, which was estimated at US $354 million in 2006 is forecast to reach $869 million by 2010, representing a CAGR of 25% over 2006-2010.

According to the report, there are presently 300 animation companies in India employing approximately 12,000 full-time people and an additional 3,000 freelancers.

This huge growth has come about thanks to Hollywood outsourcing a lot of its animation work to India for cost reasons.

In fact, seeing the high quality of the animation produced in India and how cost effective it is, even Freej, the first professional attempt at animation by a UAE national, was outsourced to India. Today, this animation series has become a huge success in Dubai.

Likewise, the television industry in India has become hugely successful. A report from Reuters in September 2007 stated that an estimated 100 new channels would be launched by the end of this year in India. The report added that by 2010, the country would have more than 700 channels up from 346 in 2006.

With scope for such huge growth in the Indian TV industry, Rammya Choudhury, technical manager of ON-AIR Systems, which recently deployed a tapless solution for a South Indian TV station, Angel TV, reckons there will be continuous demand for new equipment and technology in the country.

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