FDI: I&B sector attracts FDI worth Rs 7,012 crore in fiscal 2024: DPIIT

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India’s information and broadcasting sector rose 87% to Rs 7,012 crore in the year ended March 31, 2024, from Rs 3,745 crore in the previous fiscal, according to data from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). The investment by Uday Shankar and James Murdoch’s Bodhi Tree Systems in Viacom 18 was Rs 4,306 crore and accounted for over 60% of the total FDI in the sector. Including this, the sector received about Rs 4,893 crore in the April-March quarter.

Inflows fell to about Rs 1,165 crore in the second quarter, Rs 332 crore in the third quarter and Rs 661 crore in the last three months of the financial year.

Foreign investors who attracted new investment into the country included advertising giants Dentsu Pacific, Havas and WPP, as well as companies such as Sony Music Publishing, Crunchyroll India, Warner Music and Cinepolis.

Fund inflows in the fourth quarter were 24% lower than a year earlier, when the sector received Rs 820 million.

The largest deals during the quarter were Dentsu Pacific’s investment of Rs 463 crore in its Indian subsidiary Dentsu Aegis Network India and Ivy Entertainment Holdings’ investment of Rs 123 crore in its Indian unit Ivy Entertainment.

India allows 100% FDI in entertainment channels and television distribution platforms such as cable, direct to home and head-end in the sky (HITS). FDI in print and digital news is capped at 26%, while in TV news and FM radio it can be up to 49%.

According to a recent report by Ficci-EY, M&A activity in the media and entertainment sector slowed down significantly in 2023, with only 88 deals worth Rs 92 billion recorded during the year.

New media accounted for 86% of deal volumes but only 35% of deal value, it said. By comparison, traditional media deals in television and film accounted for 14% of deal volumes but 65% of deal value, largely due to Bodhi Tree’s investment in Viacom 18.

As reported, in 2023, private equity and venture capital accounted for 61% of the number of deals and 41% of the deal value.

In 2022, the media and entertainment sector saw 126 M&A deals worth Rs 50,000 crore. In the previous year, there were 118 deals worth Rs 67,200 crore.

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