NEW DELHI, July 31: Movie-makers seeking to shoot films in India will soon get faster and hassle-free permissions as the I&B ministry is creating a single window mechanism to grant such approvals online in a time bound manner.
Officials said that as per the present system, film-makers especially those from other countries have to seek approvals from a plethora of local, state and central agencies which made it difficult for them to come to India.
“There are a multiplicity of agencies which are engaged in this task of granting various clearances at different levels in government,” I&B secretary Bimal Julka said today at a workshop held to discuss the single window clearance system for films.
“The attempt is to simplify, rationalise procedures and making it simpler for foreign productions, foreign producers to come to India and shooting in India,” he added.
As part of the mechanism under which online shooting permissions to film-makers can be provided in a time bound manner, the I&B ministry is working to functionalise a detailed set of ‘Standard Operating Procedures’.
There will be specific timelines as per which requests for shooting will be processed by various ministries or state government departments. The timelines for permissions from various central ministries in the SOP range from around five to 45 days while they are still being worked out for departments in state and local level.
Officials said that state and central ministries were presently being consulted before the entire process is concretised. The I&B ministry already has held a round of consultations with key ministries like Defence, tourism, Culture, Civil Aviation and others.
Julka said that while there were concerns including those related to security, “the need was still felt to have timelines for approvals to make the system more transparent and clear”.
Julka also said the ministry would create a website to assist film-makers who seek shooting permissions. He said the ministry would utilise the new media platforms to provide real time information and facilitate engagement and interaction on the single window clearance mechanism.
He said that the ministry was working for a seamless transition for shooting permissions to an online process.
Officials said that after discussions with state governments and various ministries, the different views would be collated and utilised for the creation of the single window mechanism for film shooting permissions.
During the consultations I&B Joint Secretary (Films) Raghvendra Singh highlighted the growth of Indian film industry saying that domestic theatrical revenue had grown by 24 per cent and contributed 76 per cent to the Rs 124 billion Indian film industry. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel