A BSA report found that emerging markets like India and China accounted for most of the global increase in the commercial value of software theft. The industry advocates strong IT copyright laws, not just in principle, but also in practice. By Heena Jhingan
Although software piracy rates in India dipped by a percent, the volumes are large and losses incurred by the use of unlicensed software versions went up, amounting to nearly Rs. 13,783 crores in 2011, according to a recent Business Software Alliance (BSA) study.
The ninth edition of the annual study of global software piracy conducted by BSA in partnership with IDC and Ipsos Public Affairs, highlighted that BRIC countries were scoring high on the piracy rate chart. The present rate of piracy across BRIC countries combined is 70%. India experiences a software piracy rate of 63%. Almost 43% of computer users in India admitted that they had acquired pirated software. Globally, this number was higher at about 57%
The study found that piracy rates in emerging markets towered over those in mature markets at 68% to 24%, on average and that emerging markets like India and China accounted for an overwhelming majority of the global increase in the commercial value of software theft. The gap in spending on legal software in emerging and mature economies is stubbornly persistent. China, for example, spends less than a quarter of the amount that Russia, India, and Brazil spend on a per-PC basis and just 7% of the amount that the United States spends, the report pointed.
According to the report, business decision makers have admitted to pirating software more frequently than other users and they are more than twice as likely as others to say that they buy software for one computer and then install it on additional machines in their offices.“The IT heads might be convinced that the cost of acquisition of these software solutions is low, they may not be aware of the risks to which they are exposing their company. Many a times, due to depressed IT budgets, IT heads might need to take a decision and opt for an unlicensed solution but they are ignoring the investments that they will need to make on securing software and managing upgrades. It is a myth that software piracy helps bring down TCO. What it does is put the business at risk,” said Mishra.
In India, mid to large enterprises have gained some maturity in acting against piracy; however, a lot of work needs to be done in the SMB segmentation, along with the Department of IT has run several Software Asset Management (SAM) seminars targeted at the Indian SMB sector with the state governments of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh. Capacity building initiatives have also been hosted for government officers in partnership with DIT. Despite the awareness projects, the industry has been unable to stamp out piracy at the rate that it should have. The prime reason for this is the fact that the industry has not been able to enforce a zero tolerance policy for IT copyright violations. Mishra observed that, globally, there was strong support for IP rights and protection. “It is disturbing that there is a lack of incentive for pirates to change their behavior. Only 20% of frequent pirates in mature markets and 15% in emerging markets feel that the risk of getting caught is sufficient reason not to pirate software,” she added.
Mishra said, “If emerging markets like India, which also happens to be software hubs, intend to curb revenue losses through piracy, then the industry, along with the respective governments will need to work on a stringent framework against piracy and consider it to be a more serious offense and departments like the Economic Offenses Wings will need to take up the charge.”
heena.jhingan@expressindia.com