IDBI to finance films through consortium
By Our Banking Bureau | 16 Mar 2002
Speaking at Frames 2002: Global Convention on the Business of Entertainment here, IDBI chairman P P Vora said: In the last one year, we have financed nine feature films, of which two have been released and one is due to be released next month.
He acknowledged that the evaluation of projects in this arena is not easy. Enumerating some of the benchmarks for film financing, Vora said the industry needs to corporatise itself. First convert yourself into a limited liability company. Then we need a complete script that will be evaluated by an advisory committee set up for this purpose.
Apart from expediting the corporatisation process in the film industry, it needs to nurture a habit of ploughing back earnings, he said. The industry needs to standardise functions and become transparent in accounting practices.
In case there is a delay in completion of films, there should be a financial institution for undertaking the completion bond, he said. On an average film budgets are in the range of Rs 10-25 crore. Sometimes we do take up a line of credit to a big production house.