India and Australia sign audio-visual co-production agreement

A third country can also participate, subject to specific conditions and limits laid down in laws and regulations in force, between the party countries

Representational image | Photo Credit: Getty Images

India and Australia have signed an audio-visual co-production agreement under which private, quasi-government or governmental agencies of the two countries enter into contracts to produce films together.

“The government has so far entered into 15 such agreements with various countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Canada,” said a senior Information & Broadcasting Ministry official.

An audio-visual co-production, made in accordance with the agreement, will be entitled to claim all the benefits extended in both the countries. “The respective contributions of the producers of the two countries may vary from 20% to 80% of the final total cost of co-produced work,” he said.

A third country can also participate in the co-production as multilateral project, subject to the specific conditions and limits laid down in the laws and regulations in force, between the party countries.

For all qualifying project, the international film production company can claim a payable clash incentive of up to 30% on qualifying expenditure in India, subject to a maximum of ₹2 crore. In case of foreign film shootings in India, an additional 5% bonus up to a maximum of ₹50 lakh as additional reimbursement will be granted for employing 15% or more manpower in India. This apart, the State governments also extend various benefits.

The Ministry plans to make incentives applications completely online through the revamped Film Facilitation Office (FFO) website. “Also, single window platforms for filming are being set up in coordination with various State governments and bodies like the Railway, the Archeological Survey of India, etc., to simply the procedures. ‘Invest India’ has now been engaged to run the office of FFO…,” the official said.