M&E industry poised to grow at 13% over next five years

The Indian media and entertainment industry is slated to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13 per cent over the next five years to Rs 1,09,100 crore, according to a report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and research firm KPMG. The gaming and the animation segments are expected to lead among all others with an expected CAGR of 32 per cent and 18.7 per cent respectively over the next five years.

The industry witnessed a tough phase in 2009 recording a marginal growth of 1.4 per cent to Rs 58,700 crore due to the economic slowdown and reduction in advertising spends. However, despite the slowdown, the TV industry grew 6.8 per cent in 2009.

The film industry contracted 14 per cent in 2009. Over the next five years, the industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9 per cent and reach Rs 13,700 crore. Growth drivers for the sector would include expansion of multiplex screens resulting in better realisations, an increase in the number of digital screens facilitating wider releases, higher cable and satellite revenues, improving collections from the overseas markets and ancillary revenue streams like DTH, digital downloads, etc, which are expected to emerge in future.

In the last year, the print media industry showed a very moderate growth of 2 per cent as there was a decline in advertisement revenues, which was partly offset by the growth in circulation revenues. The industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9 per cent and reach around Rs 26,900 crore by 2014.

Radio, like other sectors, was affected by the recession too. However, it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16 per cent over 2010-14 and reach a size of Rs 1, 640 crore by 2014.

The size of the Indian music industry was estimated at around Rs 830 crore, up from Rs 730 crore in 2008, implying a growth of 14 per cent during the reporting period. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16 per cent over 2010-14 to reach Rs 1,720 crore. Gaming is expected to be the fastest growing sector in the M&E industry. While the sector showed a 22 per cent growth in 2009, it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 32 per cent in the next five years to reach Rs 3,200 crore by 2014.

Oil Rises After OPEC Says Demand Rising, U.S. Pledges Low Rates

March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose for a second day after OPEC officials said demand is growing and U.S. Federal Reserve authorities repeated their pledge to keep the main interest rate near zero.

“OPEC says demand is increasing; this is positive for oil,” Roland Stenzel, a crude and carbon trader at E&T Energie Handelsgesellschaft mbH, said from Vienna. “Low interest rates will keep the economy on track.”

Crude for April delivery gained 76 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $82.46 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 11 a.m. London time. Yesterday, the contract rose 2.4 percent, the biggest one-day gain since Feb. 16. Brent crude for May added 89 cents to $81.42 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, meeting in Vienna, agreed for a fifth time since late 2008 to keep its production limits unchanged, according to Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corp.

Prices are “beautiful” and there’s no reason to revisit the group’s output limits, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said today before the start of the meeting. OPEC “should keep things as they are,” he said. Demand may grow by “around 1 million barrels” a day in the second half of the year, he said.

OPEC cut output limits by a record 4.2 million barrels a day at the end of 2008 as global demand collapsed amid the recession. Compliance dropped to 53 percent in February, it said March 10 in its monthly report. Group members were expected to maintain quotas as oil holds above $80 a barrel, according to 42 of 44 analysts and traders surveyed last week by Bloomberg News.

‘Coming Back Slowly’

“The economies of the big consumers are coming back slowly out of a recession,” OPEC President Germanico Pinto said yesterday. “We should continue the policy stated in 2008 for the moment.”

The U.S. Energy Department is scheduled to release its Weekly Petroleum Status Report at 10:30 a.m. in Washington.

U.S. crude oil inventories are expected to have increased last week as refineries stocked up before the summer holiday driving season.

Stockpiles climbed 1.1 million barrels in the week ended March 12, according to the median estimate from 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Supplies previously gained for a sixth week to 343 million barrels, 5.5 percent above the five- year average level. Yesterday, the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute said inventories rose 403,000 barrels to 344 million, the highest since August.

U.K. Jobless Claims Fall at Fastest Pace Since 1997

March 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. jobless claims unexpectedly fell in February at the fastest pace since 1997, suggesting the economic recovery is strengthening as Britons prepare for a general election within weeks.

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits dropped 32,300 from January to 1.59 million, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 29 economists was for an increase of 6,000. The pound jumped 0.7 percent against the dollar after the report.

The figures are a boost for Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is seeking to persuade voters his Labour Party has the best strategy to cement the economic recovery. The Conservatives’ pledge to cut the record budget deficit faster than Brown is planning has cost the party support, raising the specter of a minority government after the election due by June.

“This is probably a good thing for Labour -- the ruling party can say unemployment is on its way down,” said David Tinsley, an economist at National Australia Bank in London and a former Bank of England official. “It’s a fine line they have to tread between talking up the recovery too much and not wanting to withdraw fiscal support too early.”

A wider survey-based measure of unemployment based on International Labour Organization counting methods fell by 33,000 to 2.45 million in the three months through January, the biggest drop since the fourth quarter of 2007. The 7.8 percent jobless rate on that basis compares with 9.7 percent in the U.S., 9.9 percent in the euro region and 4.9 percent in Japan.

Minority Government

In January, the number of jobless claims rose by 5,300 instead of the 23,500 increase originally reported. In February, the jobless rate fell to 4.9 percent from 5 percent.

A March 15 YouGov Plc poll for the Sun newspaper put the Conservatives 5 points ahead of Labour with 37 percent support, compared with a lead of 12 points at the start of the year.

Speculation that no party will get an outright majority of the seats in Parliament at the election sent the pound to a 10- month low against the dollar this month. Investors are concerned that a minority administration will find it hard to cut the deficit, which is almost as big as Greece’s at more than 12 percent of economic output. The pound was trading at $1.5309 as of 9:41 a.m. in London.

The Bank of England said this week its agents expect businesses to keep staff numbers stable in the coming months. Britain emerged from its deepest recession since World War II in the fourth quarter with growth of 0.3 percent.

SThree Plc, a U.K. recruiter for information technology companies, may increase staff levels by between 10 percent and 20 percent as orders improve, Chief Executive Officer Russell Clements said this month.

The statistics office said today growth in weekly pay including bonuses quickened to 0.9 percent in the three months through January from 0.7 percent. Regular pay rose 1.4 percent and bonus pay fell declined 7.1 percent.