Scam worth Rs 22,400 crore killing Bollywood: Piracy hurting business of Hindi films

Bollywood industry has been seeing a slump in business for the past few years now. It recovered one year after COVID killed business for theatre owners but the situation has been dire for past two years with most big budget films tanking at the box office. Major Hindi film releases like Raid 2, Sikandar, Jaar have performed with decent numbers.

All of these films were pirated before their theatrical release and were released a day before it hit cinemas. According to the EY-IAMAI Anti-Piracy Study 2024 alias The Rob Report a huge scam has been orchestrated over years. This early leakage has raised serious alarms across the Indian film industry, with investigators and analysts pointing to insiders at post-production studios, content delivery services, and cinema exhibition companies as likely culprits.

Piracy linked to terrorism

Piracy at such a large scale has been linked to terrorism. On May 21, when India observes Anti-Terrorism Day, former Rajya Sabha MP Dr Subhash Chandra wrote on X, “Terror networks don’t survive on ideology alone. They survive on money. And pirated contents is one of their quietest sources.”

The Economic Times reported, a senior Maharashtra police officer said, “There is a growing trend of movies, especially Hindi and Tamil films, being leaked on the day before the release. In such cases, the role of an insider is suspected.”

Girish Wankhede, a trade analyst, confirmed the gravity of the issue: “Piracy before the day of release of a film implies that it is an insider job… post-production studios, content delivery agencies and nefarious elements in exhibition companies” are the key leakage points.

Suniel Wadhwa, co-founder & director of Karmic Films, labelled the phenomenon as “economic sabotage,” and said, “It destroys a film’s theatrical potential, jeopardises digital (streaming) and satellite deals, and kills audience curiosity before the first show.”

It’s no mystery that the Indian media industry has suffered economic losses due to piracy since 2023. According to EY-IAMAI, here are the losses that the entertainment sector has incurred:

Sector Estimated Loss (Rs crore)

Theatrical (cinemas) Rs 13,700

Streaming / OTT Platforms Rs 8,700

Total Losses Rs 22,400

The EY-IAMAI report cited by ET and authored in partnership with the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), highlights that 51 per cent of Indian consumers access pirated content, primarily through illegal streaming platforms, mobile apps, social media, and torrents. Telegram, with its high file-size allowance and privacy features, has emerged as a dominant player in this grey ecosystem.

According to the report, in 2023 alone, piracy inflicted losses of Rs 13,700 crore on theatres and Rs 8,700 crore on the OTT industry in India. The impact is especially severe for mid- and small-budget films, which lack the resilience of big-budget productions that still manage to secure streaming deals despite leaks.

India ranks highest in online video piracy

Globally, India ranked highest in online video piracy, with over 90.3 million users, followed by Indonesia (47.5 million) and the Philippines (31.1 million), according to a Media Partners Asia analysis quoted by both ET and the EY study.

India is the world leader in online video piracy, per Media Partners Asia. The timing of these leaks is especially crucial as the more a movie is anticipated, the more likely it becomes a target. This “buzz-based targeting” has turned online piracy into a high-stakes game, where financial sabotage precedes public viewing.