Software piracy drops in India, losses still above $2 bn

Software piracy levels in India dropped by three per cent in 2009, but these still remained high at 65 per cent of the total software programmes installed on computers in the country, causing losses of around $2 billion to the industry, says a study.

Software piracy levels in India dropped by three per cent in 2009, but these still remained high at 65 per cent of the total software programmes installed on computers in the country, causing losses of around $2 billion to the industry, says a study.

HT Image

Installations of unlicensed software on personal computers in India fell from 68 per cent in 2008 to 65 per cent in 2009, but the dollar losses caused by such piracy continued to remain in the $2 billion range, according to the study by Business Software Alliance, a US-based non-profit trade association of software firms in over 80 countries, and market tracking firm IDC.

India's piracy rates have seen a gradual decline over the past three years, but are still higher than the overall Asia Pacific averages, it said.

"As a leading provider of IT services and application development, it is imperative that India strengthens its national ecosystem to boost innovation and IT product development," said Nasscom president Som Mittal.

"Software piracy erodes the software industry’s ability to incubate new ideas, imbibe the culture of innovation and develop cutting edge IT products which not only fuels growth in the global market, but also take India’s IT competitiveness to a high level."

Mumbai, May 11 (IANS) Software piracy levels in India dropped by three per cent in 2009, but these still remained high at 65 per cent of the total software programmes installed on computers in the country, causing losses of around $2 billion to the industry, says a study.

Installations of unlicensed software on personal computers in India fell from 68 per cent in 2008 to 65 per cent in 2009, but the dollar losses caused by such piracy continued to remain in the $2 billion range, according to the study by Business Software Alliance, a US-based non-profit trade association of software firms in over 80 countries, and market tracking firm IDC.

India's piracy rates have seen a gradual decline over the past three years, but are still higher than the overall Asia Pacific averages, it said.

"As a leading provider of IT services and application development, it is imperative that India strengthens its national ecosystem to boost innovation and IT product development," said Nasscom president Som Mittal.

"Software piracy erodes the software industry’s ability to incubate new ideas, imbibe the culture of innovation and develop cutting edge IT products which not only fuels growth in the global market, but also take India’s IT competitiveness to a high level."