In a crackdown on film and music piracy, the government has asked chief secretaries of all states to advise district magistrates and police officials to include anti-piracy measures in their monthly activity reports.

Piracy emerged as a key concern in a recent meeting of state information ministers and measures were discussed to deter film and music piracy, said an official statement from the information and broadcasting ministry.

The ministry is in the process of exploring possibilities for enacting an optical disc law in consultation with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

According to FICCI, film piracy alone accounted for annual losses of Rs.12 billion ($276 million) while sales of the music industry had fallen from Rs.10 billion ($230 million) in 1999 to half that amount last year because of copyright violation.

Other measures to tackle piracy include the framing of appropriate training modules for police officers to train them for anti-piracy initiatives.

The National Film Development Corporation has been commissioned to rope in film stars for an anti-piracy campaign on prominent national and satellite TV channels while the Public Service Broadcasting Trust has been entrusted with making a film on piracy.

Recognising that high levels of entertainment tax lead to piracy, the Committee for Development of the Entertainment Sector recommended at the state information ministers' meeting that the rate of the tax be lowered to a ceiling of 25-30 percent.