The government announced the merger of four film media units — Films Division, Directorate of Film Festivals, National Film Archive of India, and Children’s Film Society of India — with the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).

The ministry of information and broadcasting transferred the mandate of production of documentaries and short films, organising film festivals and preservation of films to the NFDC.

The government aims to reduce the overlap of various activities and ensure better utilisation of public resources.

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.

• 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.

The units merged with NFDC

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.

In December 2020, the Union Cabinet decided to merge four film media units with the NFDC by expanding the Memorandum of Articles of Association of NFDC, which will then carry out all the activities hitherto performed by them with the objective of ensuring synergy, convergence of activities and better utilisation of resources. 

What will be the new changes?

• 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.

• 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. 

The merger will give a strong impetus to:

i) The production of films of all genres including feature films, documentaries, children films and animation films.

ii) Promotion of films through participation in different international festivals and organising various domestic festivals.

iii) Preservation of filmic content, digitization and restoration of films.

iv) Distribution and outreach activities. 

• The government has made a budgetary allocation of Rs 1304.52 crore up to 2026 for all these activities, which will be implemented through NFDC.

• In order to further strengthen the NFDC, it has been decided that the revenues generated by these activities will also accrue to NFDC. 

• The mandate of production of feature films is already being carried out by NFDC. 

• The mandate of production of documentaries that was earlier done by the Films Division has been completely transferred to NFDC. The legacy and brand name of the Films Division will be taken further and the production vertical for production of documentaries in the NFDC will be named as ‘Films Division’.

• Similarly, organising film festivals that was the mandate of Directorate of Films Festivals has been transferred to NFDC. This will bring the organisation of different national and international film festivals under one roof, thereby bringing in more synergy and a focused international outreach. 

• The film preservation related activities that are carried out by National Film Archives of India have been transferred to NFDC. The National Film Heritage Mission aiming at digitization and restoration of films and documentaries will now be implemented by NFDC.

• Audio visual service is one of the 12 champion service sectors identified by the department of commerce, and the I&B ministry is the nodal ministry for this sector. Financial incentives for audio-visual co-productions with foreign countries and for promotion of shooting of foreign films in India have also been approved by the government to further stimulate the audio-visual service sector of the economy and promote creative and technical services. This will also be spearheaded by the NFDC through its film facilitation office.

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