Yahoo Finance Amazon Signs Creative Economy Pact With Indian Government
Amazon India has signed a Letter of Engagement (LoE) with the country’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) in a bid to boost the creative economy.
The streamer said the multi-dimensional collaboration would “help build pathways to promote creative talent in India, create capacity across eminent film and TV institutes, and globally showcase ‘Made in India’ creative content.”
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Among the plans, Amazon-owned IMDb and the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) will work together to improve discoverability of Indian creative talent by listing their profiles and skills on IMDb’s ranking platform. There will also be internships and scholarships for students at the Film and Television Institute of India and the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute.
Furthermore, content from the NFDC, Doordashan and the International Film Festival of India will be showcased on Prime Video and MiniTV, a streaming service Amazon runs in India. Amazon.in will also promote books and journals reflecting India’s heritage and there will be further tie-ins on Alexa devices and Amazon Music.
The LoE was signed at The National Media Centre in New Delhi. In attendance was the Indian government’s Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Youth Affairs & Sports Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Amazon India’s Vice President Public Policy Chetan Krishnaswamy and Prime Video’s Vice President, Asia Pacific, Gaurav Gandhi.
The MIB and Prime Video previously clashed over Indian original Tandav, with Amazon execs arrested. Two scenes were ultimately dropped from the show over government concerns and the director Ali Abbas Zafar issued an apology after complaints were made by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
That marked a key moment in Indian streaming, which to that point had largely been unregulated. Streamers now effectively operate under a system of self-censorship using guidelines provided by the MIB. Deadline recently revealed Dibakar Banerjee’s Netflix film Tees had been shelved amid concerns from the filmmaker the decision was a political one.
Whatever the case, Amazon has now decided to work more closely with the government.
“At Prime Video, we have always looked at ourselves as the enablers of the creative ecosystem,” said Gandhi. “As an entertainment hub, there is room for every story to be told, which are only enriched if more passionate storytellers find the training, platform and resources required to bring their best work forward
“Our rich cultural diversity offers immense potential, to drive a thriving creative economy and further India’s soft power, internationally. Our holistic collaboration with MIB, looks at every life stage and every-corner of integration to stimulate the growth of the industry, and we are very optimistic of the pathways that it will create,” added Gaurav.
Thakur, a BJP politician, said the LoE would “help to reduce the period of struggle for the talented artists coming out of prestigious film institutes of India.”
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