India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and Textiles Piyush Goyal called for self-regulation within the country’s media and entertainment industry with regard to content, while adding sector-specific rules should be made contemporary to fuel growth.

Addressing the valedictory session of 11th CII-organised Big Picture Summit in New Delhi on Thursday, Goyal said, “On the one hand we talk of our culture, our heritage, our rich tradition, our family value system and on the other hand some of what we see on television and OTT platforms certainly is beyond what is ordinarily accepted standards within the Indian cultural landscape.”

He said that a modern, catchy and entertaining way of presentation of content was welcome, but a certain level of decency in presentation of India, Indian families and culture is something that captains of the industry must pay attention to.

The messaging in these programs must not be disconnected with the Indian reality, he opined, according to an official statement put out by the government.

Sounding a warning to the media and entertainment industry, he said that if the industry did not self-regulate, there would be a clamour from the society urging the government to undertake regulatory interventions.

The Minister exhorted the entertainment industry to carefully introspect on novel entertainment avenues such as gaming to decide to what levels “we are willing to allow our youngsters to be on betting platforms and other such areas”.

He emphasized that a balance must be struck so as not to let these “newer entertainment models adversely affect our culture”.

Pointing out that the media and entertainment sector presented a remarkable opportunity for India, he, however, stressed that this opportunity could be realized only if the entire industry and all its verticals and stakeholders came together to ideate and synergize.

He appreciated the industry for keeping the citizens of the country informed, connected, engaged and entertained during the trying times of the pandemic through credible and quality content.

Highlighting that the media and entertainment (M&E) industry is a sunrise sector and that the industry was indeed growing at a fast pace, Goyal called for efforts to achieve larger outcomes.

He spoke of the immense resources that India has in this sector, including technical skill, talents of the young Indians and excellent digital connectivity, all of which have been further boosted with the roll out of 5G services.

Goyal observed that there was a need to make the legal framework much more contemporary.

It was time that India moved out of the colonial mindset, the Minister said, as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and moved away from outdated laws, hinting at the recent spate of revised guidelines being issued by various Ministries relating to the M&E sector and social media, including the draft Telecommunications Bill 2022 that seeks to do away with antiquated British era communications laws.

He assured that the government would engage with the industry to conceive laws, which would truly facilitate growth and simplify day to day operations in this sector.

Dwelling on the incentive scheme relating to foreign projects’ shooting in India, unveiled by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting earlier in the year, and a slew of other policy reforms, the Minister added that all efforts must be directed towards laying a red carpet for international artists to create in India.

He underscored that India had the ability to become content creators for the world. “Create content in India for the world”, he told the industry reps in the audience.

“The private sector and the government must work in a spirit of partnership for the growth of the sector”, he said, exhorting the industry to leverage the strength of Indian talent, competitiveness and quality of work to capture the global market.

The Minister also released two reports prepared by CII on the broadcasting sector.