How a closed economy like India adopts the transformations brought up after post-liberalization reforms, that smooth transition to an open market economy is something palpable.
These reforms are also known as LPG reforms which means liberalisation, privatization, and globalization were brought in 1991 by the then Finance minister Mr.Manmohan Singh. These reforms transformed the way India as an economy worked and opened the country up to the world for trade and commerce. Foreign Direct Investment was only possible after LPG reforms. Our main focus will be to explore the impact of FDI on media after post-liberalization.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment made by any individual or company in a business located in another country. FDI plays a very vital role in the working of media industries. One of the greatest changes brought by FDI in India was the introduction of Cable TV, Before the LPG reforms the Indian audience had only Doordarshan as the source of entertainment. Due to FDI investment, we water able to get watch media groups like ZEE enterprise limited, and STAR media group. The flow of FDI in India was through two different routes. One is through an automatic
route in which the approval of the government is not required, and the other is where the Government's approval is required. The Indian Government allowed 26% FDI in print publications, and due to this many new news channels started flourishing. Journalists started getting better salaries. This not only created the scope of job security but introduce new skills and different work cultures as well. Privatization in media allowed maneuverability for the private players to create new outlooks.
The audience saw this differently as fresh and something new and fresh. Cricket saw huge growth. Earlier BCCI had to depend on DD National only for the matches to be telecasted.
The rising internet penetration and mobile phone brought exponential growth in Indian media.
In 2001 private FM Radio broadcasting Started, and transistors were replaced by pocket radio devices. This all was possible due to FDI. In 2005 with 33% of growth, about 3.2 billion in revenue was generated. This deluge of radio stations opened up enormous job Opportunities.
UNCTAD survey conducted in 2012 projected India to become one of the most important FDI destinations.
Since digital media had no capping, it resulted in the flourishing of many new digital media outlets
In 2019, the government brought many changes in FDI investment, it capped 26% FDI investment in digital media which is close to fourth less than earlier. Due to this many digital platforms which were entirely running on FDI are drying up.
Foreign Direct Investment seems to be a necessity if the Indian media has to survive in long run. It will not only curtail job opportunities but it will have a direct impact on our GDP as well. The decision toward self-reliance in media seems to be an impossible task, and there is no denying the fact that FDI has not only been beneficial but has revolutionized the existence of media in our country. so curtailing the FDI can never be a great option for a country like India.
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