PC Software Piracy Level Down By 68% In India Article

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PC Software piracy level down by 68% in India

The personal computer (PC) software piracy level in India registered 68 percent in 2008, at one point drop from 69% in 2007.

Author: Amarpreet97

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However dollar losses caused by software piracy continued to increase, rising to US$2.7 billion in 2008 compared to losses of US$2 billion in 2007.

These are among the findings of the Sixth Annual BSA-IDC Global Software Piracy Study released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

In 2008, the rate of PC software piracy dropped in slightly more than half (57) of the 110 countries studied, remained the same in nearly one third (36), and rose in just 16. However, the worldwide PC software piracy rate rose for the second year in a row, from 38 percent to 41 percent, mainly because PC shipments grew fastest in high-piracy countries such as China and India, overwhelming progress in these and other countries.

In another sign of the scale of the problem, the monetary value of “losses” to the software industry from PC software piracy broke the $50 billion level for the first time. Worldwide losses grew by 11 percent to $53 billion in non-adjusted dollars, although half of that growth was the result of the falling US dollar. Excluding the effect of exchange rates, losses grew by 5 percent to $50.2 billion.

We are continuing to make significant progress against PC software piracy, which helps not only the software industry, but also the wider economy and society. The bad news is that software piracy remains so prevalent all over the world, undermining local IT service firms, giving illegal software users an unfair advantage in business, and spreading security risks.

BSA are seeing mixed results in Asia Pacific with eight economies showing a decline in the PC software piracy rate, no change in seven and an increase in three. The average PC software piracy rate in Asia Pacific increased to 61 percent, up from 59 percent the previous year, with losses reaching over $15 billion. This increase in the average piracy rate is attributed to the mathematical outcome of more rapid growth of PC markets in economies of higher piracy rates. Even if piracy were to go down in every high-piracy country, their growing market share for PCs could drive the regional average up.

The availability of pirated software on the Internet, which ironically is facilitated by increasing broadband penetration in the region, is also a major concern. On top of this, it is surprising how often we find that managers fail to institute policies and procedures in their organizations to manage their software assets to prevent the use of unlicensed software in the workplace and to gain efficiencies by carefully integrating their software assets to maximize productivity.

Impact of Global Recession Is Mixed

The global economic recession is having a mixed impact on software piracy, the study says. The consumers with reduced spending power may hold on to computers longer, which would tend to increase piracy because older computers are more likely to have unlicensed software loaded on them. However, pocketbook pressures are spurring sales of inexpensive “netbooks,” which tend to come with legitimate pre-loaded software and spurring businesses to implement software asset management (SAM) programs to increase efficiencies and lower IT costs.

Reduced buying power is only one of many factors affecting software piracy. The economic crisis will have an impact part of it negative, part of it positive but it may not become fully apparent until the 2009 figures come in.

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PC Software piracy level down by 68% in India