India will be the third-largest media and entertainment market in the world in the next five years, said Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur while speaking at the inauguration of the 54th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Panaji, Goa.
Acknowledging the growing popularity of original content creators, Thakur also announced that IFFI will be giving out the award for the Best Web Series on OTT: "For the first time and from hereon, IFFI will bestow the best web series OTT award. It will acknowledge the transformative role of original content creators in India and celebrate their contribution to employment and innovation."
"India, on one hand, has become the fifth largest economy of the world. It is also the fifth largest in the world in terms of the media and entertainment industry. In the next five years, India is going to be the third largest economy in the world as well as the third largest media and entertainment market," said Thakur.
The minister lauded OTT and the role it played in entertaining people during the COVID-19 pandemic. He noted that the segment is currently growing at a rate of 28%, which makes the new OTT award a necessity.
The union minister also announced Cine Mela, a celebration of "diversity and culture" and said that IFFI has introduced a section on restored classic feature films.
"We are going to show you seven world premieres of meticulously restored masterpieces of NFDC (National Film Development Corporation) and NFAI (National Film Archive of India) under the National Film Heritage Mission," Thakur said.
The mission will help in restoring 5,000 films and documentaries in digital form.