MUMBAI: Election fever touches the 15th edition of FICCI Frames 2014 as FICCI Chairman Uday Shankar urges and talks about the need for the government and the media to build and maintain good relations for the functioning of the sector.

He addressed the topic during the opening remarks of the three day conference.

According to him, good relations with the authority would help in opening the doors to many untapped opportunities. This was in a way a hint towards growth outside India. He also stressed that the “Government and political leaders are aware about the power of media.”

Shankar emphasised that the media are the flag-bearers which would essentially help them to build a clean image among their audiences. He also said that this industry is a hardcore economic enterprise which is capable of creating power and an economy much stronger than any other sector. It can be particular relevant in India because it can be an employment generator without much investment.

In 2013, the Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry registered a growth of 11.8 per cent over 2012 and touched Rs 918 billion, stated the KPMG report which was released during the inaugural session. For projection till 2018, digital advertising is expected to have the highest CAGR of 27.7 per cent while all other sub-sectors are expected to grow at a CAGR in the range of 9 to 18 per cent. Overall, the industry is expected to register a CAGR of 14.2 per cent to touch Rs 1785.8 billion by 2018.

Other stakeholders and authorities present during the session were Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd CEO and MD Punit Goenka; Australian High Commissioner to India H.E Patrick Suckling; FICCI vice president Harshavardhan Neotia; USA FCC Ajit Pai; Government of India Ministry of Information and Broadcasting secretary Bimal Julka; and Government of Karnataka department of IT, BT and ST secretary Srivatsa Krishna.

During the vision statement, Bimal Julka took the opportunity to highlight the achievements of the government in television and radio. As Julka spoke about the television and digitalisation at a stretch, he touched on radio by saying that FM auctions for Phase III is underway and that they are meticulously looking at the process to carry on the auction at the earliest. This was also part of the achievement list laid down by Julka. Phase III will add 839 channels across 294 cities.

The KPMG report also highlighted that few of the issues for Phase III will be auctions and frequency allocation. It also added that Radio remains a smallest segment of the Rs 920 billion M&E industry. The report noted that 'only few of the 30-odd operators are profitable at a post-tax level. However, the radio industry is growing, so along with beating competitors, it has to rely on increasing utilisation of available inventory. But now with inventories almost exhausted, the only way to grow is through more channels and hike in rates.