India has considerably enhanced incentives for filming in the country. The Indian federal government will reimburse up to 40% of qualifying production expenditure, up from the 30% level that was announced when the incentives were revealed at Cannes last year.

The cap limit for the reimbursement has also been significantly raised from a maximum of INR25 million ($300,000) to INR300 million ($3.5 million). There is now an additional 5% rebate bonus for significant Indian content.

International productions that have been granted shooting permission by India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry of External Affairs (for documentaries only) since April 1, 2022 will be eligible for this incentive scheme. The incentives will be disbursed in two stages, interim and final. The final disbursement claim can be made once the project is complete in India. Incentives will be provided on the recommendation of a so-called Special Incentive Evaluation Committee. The Film Facilitation Office set up under the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) is executing this incentive scheme.

Announcing the enhanced incentives at the opening of the 54th International Film Festival of India, Goa, India’s Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said: “This paradigm shift in incentivizing film production serves as a testament to India’s commitment and support for artistic expression and reinforces our position as a preferred destination for cinematic endeavors.”

“This step will give further impetus to India’s efforts to attract medium- and big-budget international film projects to the country. The announcement is also part of the efforts to streamline foreign film productions and to ensure ease of doing business in India,” the ministry added in a statement.

At the festival opening, Bollywood star Madhuri Dixit was recognized for her contribution to Indian cinema in the presence of several of her industry colleagues including Sunny Deol, Karan Johar, Shahid Kapoor, Shriya Saran, Nushratt Bharucha, Pankaj Tripathi, Shantanu Moitra, Shreya Ghoshal, and Sukhwinder Singh.

Earlier, at the inauguration of the Film Bazaar, South Asia’s largest film market, Google country head Sanjay Gupta, Thakur and NFDC MD Prithul Kumar launched an online exhibition on Hindi-language cinema, which includes 120 curated stories, 5,000 images and more than 1,500 videos, posters and songs.

Article originated in: Variety