India sold pirated s/w worth $2.7 bn in 2010

NEW DELHI, INDIA: With rising awareness of the problems of software piracy, India witnessed a slight drop in the use of pirated software in 2010, said a study on Thursday.

According to the findings of the 8th Annual IDC-Business Software Alliance (BSA) 2010 Global Software Piracy Study, India witnessed a single percentage drop in piracy rate for PC software in 2010 down to 64 per cent, as compared to 2009. However, this rate is slightly higher than the Asia Pacific rate of 60 per cent, it said.

With that rate, the commercial value of unlicensed software installed on personal computers in India touched $2.739 billion in 2010, whereas the global losses stood at $58.8 billion, said BSA.

India’s piracy rate has dropped 10 p.c since 2004

In total, India’s piracy rate has dropped 10 per cent since 2004, where it stood at 74 per cent, and thus, a continuous drop but a very slow one, the study added.

BSA said businesses and consumers around the world bought $95 billion worth of legal personal computer (PC) software in 2010.

The study observed that governments face an urgent need to drive down software piracy levels in order to harness the economic benefits of a domestic genuine and legal software product eco-system and respect for Intellectual Property Rights.

“These findings show that there has been a gradual progress in reducing the software piracy rate in India, but what is needed is a speedier drop as India’s PC market grows in size,” said Keshav S Dhakad, Chair - BSA India.

“The further we reduce software piracy and grow the legitimate software product market, the greater the benefits to the Indian economy in terms of added new jobs, increase in Government’s legitimate tax collections, contribution to GDP, respect for intellectual property, growth of the domestic IT product industry and PC/IT security to the nation as a whole,” he said.

India requires an accelerated and focused programmes

According to him, “Although government and industry must be commended for the efforts that are underway to tackle this menace, India requires an accelerated and focused programmes and initiatives to educate PC users and companies on the benefits of legal and licensed software and how it causes economic losses to the local industry and creates serious cyber security vulnerabilities.”

Major gap between PC shipments and paid software licenses

The study also indicates that while the number of PCs shipped to emerging economies like India in 2010 accounted to more than 50 per cent of the world total, paid software licenses accounted for less than 20 per cent of global sales in 2010.

This Piracy Study, conducted by BSA in partnership with IDC, also includes a new dimension this time: a public-opinion survey of PC users on key social attitudes and behaviors related to software piracy, conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs.

BSA said the opinion survey found strong support for intellectual property rights especially in developing economies to promote more technology advances. Majority of the respondents from developing markets say inventors should be rewarded and intellectual property development benefits the local economy.

Also read: The story of Indias computer piracy hub

The survey also found widespread recognition that licensed software is better than pirated software, because it is understood to be more secure and more reliable.

“Software Piracy has broader implications which transcends beyond the realm of software industry and it impacts the health of nation’s economy, Business risks for industry, opportunity losses for small business/service firms/ consumers, reduces government tax revenues,”said Anjan Das, executive director — technology, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The study said that half of the 116 geographies studied in 2010 had piracy rates of 62 per cent or higher, with the global average piracy rate at 42 per cent.

Emerging economies driving force behind piracy

Emerging economies have become a driving force behind PC software piracy. Piracy rates in the developing world are 2.5 times higher than those in the developed world, and the commercial value of pirated software ($31.9 billion) accounts for more than half of the world total, it added.

“Today’s study shows that while piracy continues to threaten the global economy, people clearly understand and appreciate the value of intellectual property, especially its role in driving economic growth,” said Robert Holleyman, BSA president and CEO.

He said software theft continues to stifle IT innovation, job creation, and economic growth around the world.