'Entertainment industry needs faster growth'

The media and entertainment (M&E) industry needs to introspect and work towards increasing the growth rate from more than 12 percent, which it is slated to grow at, Disney UTV managing director Ronnie Screwvala said here Thursday.

"The 12 percent growth is less than most of the sunshine industries. We need to introspect and increase the growth rate," he said.

Screwvala was addressing the valedictory function of the 14th edition of Ficci Frames 2013, the annual convention of the Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry here in Mumbai organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

While the industry is seeing a growing talent in content creation, it also has the ability to create commerce. "But tremendous sliver that goes away," he said.

Speaking on digitisation, Screwvala said that the entire industry waited for 20 years for it to come into effect and now that it is finally happening, nobody can undermine the incredible efforts that have undergone.

"But, full realisation in terms of revenue monetisation will happen only after 2-3 years," he said.

Talking about the dynamism of India, Screwvala said that that India is the only country where print is growing and that it is a positive observation to make.

"But there are negative needle movers too. We lack collective voice as an industry. We need a lot of innovation. We need lots of innovation, we are somehow becoming complacent," he said.

However, he said pointed the lack of a credible ratings system. "In ratings systems, it is completely catastrophic that 70 percent of audience is not measured," he said.

Screwvala said it is the first year for Ficci Frames after the demise of Yash Chopra and that everyone is missing him badly. He also lauded Uday Shankar, chairman of M&E committee of Ficci and Karan Johar, co-chair, for their efforts.