Amazon India has signed a Letter of Engagement (LoE) with the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB), government of India, with an objective of growing India’s creative economy. As part of this collaboration, Amazon and MIB will help build pathways to promote creative talent in India, create capacity across eminent film and TV institutes, and globally showcase Made in India content.
The LoE was signed at The National Media Centre, New Delhi in the presence of India’s information & broadcasting and youth affairs & sports union minister Anurag Singh Thakur, Amazon India public policy vice president Chetan Krishnaswamy and Prime Video Asia Pacific VP Gaurav Gandhi.
As part of the LoE, National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and IMDb will work together to help enable discoverability of India’s creative talent by listing their profiles and skill sets on the ranking’s platform. Prime Video and miniTV will both work towards providing internships and scholarships to students at Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTII). This will enable students to gain real work exposure and become industry-ready.
To commemorate the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, iconic content from NFDC, Doordarshan and International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will be showcased on Prime Video and miniTV, reaching a vast majority of Indians, furthering its cultural influence and expanding its soft-power. Furthermore, skill-based masterclasses will be organised for the students of various film and TV institutes and 75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow – an annual talent enrichment program under the umbrella of IFFI where 75 young, talented artists, shortlisted by MIB will be selected and coached.
“The partnership with Amazon India is unique on a number of counts and the Letter of Engagement spans across various aspects of the creative industry,” said Thakur. “The partnership would help to strengthen industry-academia linkages through provisions for scholarships, internships, masterclasses, and other opportunities for students at Film and Television Institute of India and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute of India, and help to reduce the period of struggle for the talented artists coming out of prestigious film institutes of India.”
“As the Indian economy expands at a fast-clip, Amazon is uniquely placed to contribute to the nation’s growth journey on multiple fronts including e-commerce, logistics, digital skilling, cloud computing, payments, artificial intelligence and in building the creative economy. Over the years, we have been working with the Indian government to create a meaningful impact at scale through our various collaborations and initiatives,” said Krishnaswamy.
Krishnaswamy further mentioned, “…this…strengthens our commitment to globally promote and showcase India’s creative talent and stories through our multiple services such as Prime Video, miniTV, Amazon Music, Alexa, IMDb, and our marketplace business.”
“At Prime Video, we have always looked at ourselves as the enablers of the creative ecosystem. As an entertainment hub, there is room for every story to be told, which is only enriched if more passionate storytellers find the training, platform and resources required to bring their best work forward,” said Gandhi.
“As Prime Bae, I am thrilled to witness this landmark collaboration between MIB and Amazon, before anyone else,” said actor Varun Dhawan, who is also Prime Bae for Prime Video. “For any artist, the ultimate dream is to be recognised for our work. Thanks to streaming services like Prime Video, today, even people in the remotest corners of the world are dancing to our music and repeating our dialogues. A collaboration of this nature helps us all work towards redefining what it means to be an Indian on the global entertainment stage.”
Amazon.in will also curate a special storefront feature to promote books and journals across genres reflecting India’s proud heritage from MIB’s Publication Division. The Alexa All India Radio skill published by Prasar Bharti will help disseminate news bulletins and educational content. The collaboration will also help in broadening the reach of Prasar Bharati’s rich and diverse music via Amazon Music and Alexa.
