• The Union Cabinet approved the merger of four government film media units with the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) Ltd with an aim of converging activities and resources and better coordination to ensure synergy and efficiency in achieving the mandate of the bodies.

Which all units will be merged with NFDC?

• The Films Division, the Directorate of Film Festivals, the National Film Archives of India and the Children’s Film Society will be merged with the NFDC by expanding the memorandum of articles of association of the NFDC, which will then carry out all the activities performed by the four organisations.

1) The Films Division: A subordinate office of the ministry of information and broadcasting, established in 1948, primarily to produce documentaries and news magazines for the publicity of government programmes and cinematic record of Indian history.

2) The Children’s Film Society: An autonomous organisation, founded in 1955 under the Societies Act with the specific objective of providing children and young people value-based entertainment through the medium of films.

3) The National Film Archives of India: A subordinate office of the information and broadcasting ministry, which was established as a media unit in 1964 with the primary objective of acquiring and preserving Indian cinematic heritage.

4) The Directorate of Film Festivals: An attached office of the information and broadcasting ministry, which was set up in 1973 to promote Indian films and cultural exchange.

• The Cabinet also approved the appointment of a ‘transaction advisor’ and a ‘legal advisor’ to advise on the transfer of assets and employees and oversee all aspects of the operationalisation of the merger.

• While undertaking this exercise of convergence, interests of the employees of all the concerned media units will be fully taken care of and no employee will be retrenched, an official statement said.

What is the role of NFDC?

• The NFDC is a Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU), incorporated in 1975 with the primary objective of planning and promoting an organised, efficient and integrated development of the Indian film industry.

• As an umbrella organisation, the NFDC, after the merger of the film media units, will be uniquely placed with regard to promotion, production and preservation of movie content — all under one management. 

• India is the largest film producer in the world with an industry-led by the private sector and produces more than 3,000 movies in a year.

• The vision of the new entity will be to ensure a balanced and focussed development of Indian cinema in all sections — feature films, including films and content for over-the-top (OTT) platforms, children’s content, animation, short films and documentaries.

• The merger of the film media units under a single corporation will lead to synergy amongst the various activities with better and efficient utilisation of infrastructure and manpower. This will lead to reduction in duplication of activities and direct savings to the exchequer.

Other functions of NFDC:

• NFDC has so far funded/produced over 300 films in various Indian languages.

• It supports and drives mission to develop new talent and to promote Indian culture through production of films by first time feature filmmakers and through co-producing good quality films in partnership with Indian and international filmmakers.

• It has set up a training and development department in 2012, which has been devised to address the gap in the area of mid-career training opportunities in the film sector.

• Taking the Skill Mission forward, NFDC is now looking to scale up its activities and expand in the field of vocational courses for the media and entertainment sector and is planning to set up state of art training institutes in collaboration with various state governments across India.

• NFDC organises Film Bazaar, a platform to encourage collaboration between the international and South Asian film fraternity. It is organised every year alongside the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.

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